79. The representative of Uruguay said that it was important that the General Council should carry out its interim review, which it unfortunately had not been able to do at its meeting of 14 April 1999, and study the interim reports of the four bodies concerned. In the meantime, and without prejudice to the outcome of the interim review, the TRIPS Council should continue to work towards as complete a report as possible. While his delegation was still analysing the Secretariat's background note, he wished to make certain preliminary comments. This note, as well as the Secretariat's note submitted to the General Council on 14 July 1998 (document WT/GC/W/90), referred to a number of important issues that needed to be analysed. First, given the borderless nature of the Internet, it was difficult to determine how territorially based laws should be applied. Activities carried out on a worldwide net gave rise to problems as to applicable law. Secondly, as regards copyright and related rights, he said that, while the Internet and other electronic networks provided new means of distributing protected material, having secure conditions for the distribution was important for the full expansion and exploitation of this new medium. Thirdly, as regards trademarks, it should be asked, as was done in the Secretariat's background note (document IP/C/W/128), whether the present system of registering trademarks on a territorial basis sufficed for the new borderless electronic marketplace. Fourthly, as regards domain names, as had been indicated by several delegations, he felt that it was necessary to have the final report of the WIPO domain name process, which was expected to be published shortly and wondered whether the Council should consider the possibility of requesting WIPO to make a summary presentation of the report, once it was available. Lastly, he underlined the importance of the international conference WIPO was convening on electronic commerce and intellectual property that would take place from 14 to 16 September 1999.
