WIPO: 40th GA

The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) decided to renew the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) for the 2012-2013 biennium. In renewing the IGC’s mandate to hold text-based negotiations with the objective of reaching agreement on a text(s) of an international legal instrument(s), delegations welcomed the progress made by the IGC in the last biennium, especially on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and endorsed the decision reached at the IGC’s last session to renew the body’s mandate.

Decision of Renewal

WIPO/IGC: Progress on negotiating text

The 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) resulted in a single negotiating text on each of the three items referred to in the IGC’s mandate: traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. The next session of the IGC is the last one before WIPO’s General Assembly, which will decide, in turn, on convening a diplomatic conference. It also remains to be decided whether any instrument produced would be legally binding.

Press Release

WIPO: Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

Representatives from 35 countries participated in the International Conference on the Utilization of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a Model for Protection of Traditional Knowledge, convening from 22-24 March, in New Delhi, (India). The objectives of the Conference was to: share experiences and information on the role of the TKDL in the documentation of traditional knowledge (TK); identify the intellectual property issues in, and technical implications of, the establishment of a TKDL; and explore the role and functioning of the TKDL within the international intellectual property (IP) protection system. [WIPO Press Release] [Meeting Website]