WIPO Director General, Daren Tang, opened the Assemblies stating “In these troubled times, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of what we share in common and what unites us. And here at WIPO what brings us together is our belief in the human spirit of imagination, invention, innovation and creativity. […] As the global IP community, our common responsibility to humankind is to nurture this spirit. For in doing so, we are not merely protecting ideas – we are advancing what is fundamental to the human race.”
IPA congratulates our member from the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Publishers Association, who were confirmed as an official observer at WIPO in one of the early items of discussion.
Presenting the report on the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), Sylvie Forbin delivered a call to member states on both the broadcasting treaty and exceptions and limitations. Noting the longstanding discussions (Broadcasting Treaty -25 years, Exceptions and Limitations – 13 years since the mandate was adopted), Forbin asked whether Member States could narrow their focus to areas where consensus would be found rather than ‘down a path that has no end?’
The Member States, both through their regional groups and individually, reacted with predictable support for the different SCCR agenda items, with a number noting that no new items could be discussed until either of the two main standing items mentioned above had been resolved.
IPA participated in the NGO stakeholder meeting with WIPO Director General Daren Tang where he and Assistant Director General, Andrew Staines, presented WIPO’s different initiatives and fielded questions from NGOs. Tang was able to cover the full range of IP areas but frequently referred to copyright, his love of music and his belief that WIPO’s work should empower the human creator without undermining them.
The session covered a range of WIPO initiatives included their soon to be renewed WIPO Pulse survey of international attitudes to IP, work on enforcement through WIPO Alert where they will seek to work with financial institutions to stop organized crime profiting from piracy. Tang also confirmed the forthcoming announcement, in December of the AI Infrastructure Interchange (AIII) which will, on a voluntary, non norm-setting basis, look at digital identifier and megadata issues that are relevant in differentiating between AI created music and human created music.
Updates were also delivered on the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) and the Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE).Some Member States used the opportunity to develop their own bilateral agreements with The National Copyright Administration of China and the Ministry of Justice of Indonesia signing a Memorandum of Understanding on copyright cooperation.
You can find the Summary report from the Assemblies here.