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Saturday, October 06, 2007

Will The Days Of WIPO Soon Be Numbered?

A few days ago, Mr William New

wrote in IP Watch:

"[...] The annual General Assemblies of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization ended in a stalemate Wednesday with no approval of a new budget or proposed cuts in patent fees and no decision on the fate of embattled Director General Kamil Idris, according to early reports from some participants.

'It was a catastrophe,' said a participating government official.

The collapse came after voting, rare in WIPO meetings, blocked attempted compromises on patent fee cuts and the budget, according to sources. The outcome potentially adds pressure on the director general, who developed countries are pushing to resign. [...]"

Now things seem to turn from bad to worse. Mr Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press Writer, on

Chron:

"[...] The United States is currently examining a range of responses if WIPO member states continue to protect Idris from scrutiny. Possible withdrawal from the organization is being examined, though such a move is not imminent, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussions.
[...]"

Mr Joff Wild from

IAM Magazine now has

picked up this matter, pointing out that even if the U.S. were to leave the

WIPO Convention U.S. companies would still be able to make use of the

Patent co-operation Treaty (PCT), the

Madrid Protocol, and a

whole host of other international IP treaties. As pointed out by Mr Wild, the crucial point is not that the US has signed the

WIPO Convention but that it is a member of the

Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property. He further argues:

"[...] For WIPO, on the other hand, the consequences could be extremely damaging, especially if the US were followed by other countries from the developed world which are also frustrated by the current Idris impasse. Without their membership, WIPO's policy-making role would effectively come to an end, leaving the Geneva-based organisation as little more than a clearing house for international IP applications.

Of course, we are a long, long way from any of this actually happening, but as there seems to be little practical downside, it is not hard to imagine that the US, at least, may pull the trigger at some stage. This is especially so as it would be a relatively easy way to send out a general message to the UN - a body that the current Bush Administration does not see eye to eye with on many levels. The Director General and his supporters would do well to consider this over the coming days. [...]"

Currently I do not believe that these most extreme consequences will actually happen because of the pressure on Mr Idris will soon become unbearable. And, if they should ever happen, then because of other matters from the past like the upcoming of the debate on an

WIPO Development Agenda attempting to turn WIPO round from a pro-IP organisation into something like an agency for fostering Intellectual Commons, effectively stalling the

SPLT negotiation process. This surely has made the Bush administration in Washington unhappy, and current warnings to leave WIPO might perhaps be seen as a nice example of the U.S. impressing the rest of world by mooting some extension of unilateral politics in order to facilitate reaching own political objectives. Nobody should forget that WIPO actually is an agency of the United Nations, see Article 1 of the

Agreement between the United Nations and the World Intellectual Property Organization. The political ambivalence of the U.S. in view of their overall relationship with the United Nations also now appears to extend over their relations with WIPO.

Anyway, Mr New also has

reported that Switzerland, in its role as host country of the World Intellectual Property Organization, this week issued a call for an immediate search for a new leader of the organisation in order to address concerns of mismanagement and lack of credibility.

See also a

report on Tribune de Geneve, Switzerland, editor-in-chief Pierre Ruetschi quoting the quarrel could have serious consequences for Geneva. The future of WIPO is at risk, Ruetschi said, because its credibility has been undermined by the Idris affair. The US is looking for other ways of regulating intellectual property and if it decides to go it alone 'the days of WIPO are numbered.'

[UPDATE 2007-10-08] See also

Inside Views: Open Letter From Staff To The Director General Of WIPO.

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