22. Discuss the role of wipo in setting international standards of ipRs protection.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.

WIPO was established by the WIPO Convention in 1967 with a mandate from its Member States to promote the protection of IP throughout the world through cooperation among states and in collaboration with other international organizations.

The nine strategic goals were adopted by Member States in the Revised Program and Budget for the 2008/09 Biennium.  They are:

• Balanced Evolution of the International Normative Framework for IP

• Provision of Premier Global IP Services

• Facilitating the Use of IP for Development

• Coordination and Development of Global IP Infrastructure

• World Reference Source for IP Information and Analysis

• International Cooperation on Building Respect for IP

• Addressing IP in Relation to Global Policy Issues

• A Responsive Communications Interface between WIPO, its Member States and All Stakeholders

• An Efficient Administrative and Financial Support Structure to Enable WIPO to Deliver its Programs

The Strategic Goals will provide the framework for WIPO's six year Medium Term Strategic Plan (2010 - 2015).

The questions of IP Protection are highlighted in:

• Berne Convention (Literary and artistic work)

• Brussels Convention (Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite)

• Madrid Agreement (Indications of Source)

• Nairobi Treaty (Olympic symbol)

• Paris Convention (Industrial property)

• Patent Law Treaty

• Phonograms Convention

• Rome Convention (Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations)

• Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks

• Trademark Law Treaty

• Washington Treaty (Integrated Circuits)

• WCT (WIPO Copyright treaty)

• WPPT (WIPO Performances and Phonogram Treaty)

 WIPO elaborated Global Protection System Treaties:

• ensures that one international registration or filing will have effect in any of the relevant signatory States.

• The services provided by WIPO under these treaties simplify and reduce the cost of making individual applications or filings in all the countries in which protection is sought for a given intellectual property right.

Global Protection System Treaties are

• Budapest Treaty (Deposit of Microorganisms)

• Hague Agreement (International Registration of Industrial Designs)

• Lisbon Agreement (Appellations of Origin)

• Madrid Agreement (Marks)

• Madrid Protocol

• PCT (Patent co-operation treaty)

WIPO Classification Treaties create classification systems that organize information concerning inventions, trademarks and industrial designs into indexed, manageable structures for easy retrieval.

Classification Treaties are

• Locarno Agreement

• Nice Agreement

• Strasbourg Agreement

• Vienna Agreement

Here let us mention that TRIPS – it is a multilateral WTO Agreement, applicable to all existing and newly acceding Members

• General obligations: national treatment and most-favored nation treatment

• Minimum standards of protection for all types of IPRs

• Obligations on the enforcement of IPRs

• Members can invoke the WTO’s inter-governmental dispute settlement system.

(don’t know whether it is needed to continue to speak on about TRIPs. But it is on the slides, lecture 5. Easy to find. I just don’t know. Sorry)