Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

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1. Meeting date

2. Chairperson

H.E. Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter

3. Intervention by

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

4. Agenda item

11 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING

5. Statement/summary of statement

274.   I am pleased to join my colleagues from WHO and WTO and to add a few words on the second edition of the trilateral study. 275.   Since the launch of the first edition of the study in 2013, considerable relevant work has been undertaken in WIPO that has informed the update of the study. 276.   For example, comprehensive studies have been prepared for, and have been discussed in, the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), particularly under the agenda item patents and health. These include studies on: The Role of Patent Systems in Promoting Innovative Medicines, and in Fostering the Technology Transfer necessary to Make Generic and Patented Medicines available in developing countries and least developed countries (SCP/21/8); Constraints faced by developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) in making full use of Patent Flexibilities and their lmpacts on Access to Affordable Especially Essential Medicines for Public Health Purposes in those Countries: (SCP/26/5 and SCP/27/6); and the Feasibility Study on the Disclosure of International Non-proprietary Names (INN) in Patent Applications and/or Patents (SCP/21/9 and SCP/28/5). 277.   The WIPO Global Innovation Index 2019 Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation has informed the sections on economics of innovation and access to medical technologies. 278.   At the same time, patent information systems have made significant progress and we now have much more sophisticated search tools to find relevant patent information, for instance through useful features in the WIPO Patentscope database. 279.   The new WIPO Standard ST.27 (Recommendation for the exchange of patent legal status data) aims at improving worldwide availability, reliability and comparability of patent legal status data and we hope that the acceptance of this recommendation by patent offices leads to an improved understanding about patent legal status events across different jurisdictions. 280.   There is, of course, much more in the study, such as updated and enhanced sections on copyright and trademarks. The study is comprehensive, and it takes a holistic perspective when it presents the intellectual property system in its health and trade contexts. Importantly, the study benefits from the expertise and close collaboration of the three Secretariats. 281.   The COVID-19 pandemic requires that we stand together in solidarity and collaborate. The work done by the three Secretariats to produce this second edition is a small, and successful, instance of such collaboration. 282.   We trust that this second edition of the trilateral study shall have many readers.

6. Documents referred to in intervention

7. Conclusion

The Council took note of the statements made.

8. Summary of the agenda item (if available)

38.   The Chair said that the Council had regularly conducted annual reviews of technical cooperation and capacity building activities at its end of the year meeting. These reviews were based on reports submitted by developed country Members, international organizations and the WTO Secretariat. She invited the Secretariat to recall the usual arrangements for such reviews.
39.   The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
40.   The representatives of Bangladesh and South Africa took the floor. The representative of Nigeria requested that her statement be included in the record of the meeting.
41.   The Chair proposed to proceed with the customary arrangements and conduct the next review during the next Council meeting, scheduled to take place in October 2020. The documentation provided on this topic was usually quite extensive. In order to ensure a streamlined and systematic approach to the management of this documentation, she recommended the use of the e-TRIPS Submissions System, which allowed the convenient preparation of such submissions, both in capital and at the missions in Geneva. The Secretariat would be pleased to provide informal support and background to interested delegations.
42.   The Council agreed to proceed with the usual arrangements and undertake the next review on technical assistance and capacity building at the October 2020 meeting.
43.   The Chair invited the Secretariat to announce the new edition of the Trilateral Study on Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation.
44.   The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
45.   The representatives of Chile; Zimbabwe; Tanzania, on behalf of the LDC Group; the World Health Organization (WHO); and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took the floor.
46.   The Council took note of the statements made.

9. Document symbol and date of distribution

IP/C/M/95, IP/C/M/95/Add.1
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