WIPO: Innovation Also Needed in Legal Systems

2010/11/24

Director says a 'more rational' patent approach crucial in the digital age

Countries need to adapt their legal systems to meet the needs of intellectual property in today's global market, said World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Francis Gurry during the China International Copyright Expo in Beijing last week.

"We need to adjust legal systems (worldwide) to global economic behavior and use of technologies," he said. "I don't think this specific to China."

"The knowledge-based economy means demands for intellectual property rights have increased," he added.

According to the director-general, 1.9 million patent applications, 3.3 million trademarks and 700,000 industrial designs are filed around the world each year.

Yet "many of those applications are filed for the same inventions, marks or designs in different countries", Gurry noted.

The international community needs "more rational" distribution of patents and increased cooperation to deal with growing demands of the global economy, he said.

He termed copyright piracy "a structural problem".

Rewarding creativity in the digital is "very fundamental", Gurry said.

"We all want music, films and literature," he said. "But they are not free."

"Copyrights provide a mechanism for financing culture," he added.

As technological progress brings change, "the challenge now is to find a way which we can take advantage of the technological possibilities of the Internet (in distribution)" and at the same time still reward the work of writers and performers.

He said WIPO plans to build a global database of music and films to facilitate convenient, legal use of the cultural products.

"Counterfeiting is also a problem of globalization," he said. It involves "open markets and borders, movement of people and goods, mass media, images and social culture".

"It has affected all countries," he said. "It is important to find an international solution."

In response to varied economic conditions, approaches to intellectual property rights differ widely from country to country, Gurry said.

In the poorest nations without the capacity to participate in market competition, special rules are needed, he said.

Despite differentiation, he stressed that every WTO member must adhere to the organization's Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

Calling it "a positive force", Gurry said "intellectual property is really the heart of development".

He said WIPO encourages developing countries to map out national strategies, build infrastructure to tap into the global knowledge network and increase professional IPR teams to help them participate in the global system.

Gurry praised China's intellectual property work as "a major, leading example".

While China joined WIPO just 30 years ago, it is now the world fifth-largest source of international patent applications, following the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea.

As a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, China received 8,000 international patent applications last year, double the figure in 2006.

Total registered trademarks in the country reached 3.4 million by the end of last year as it continued to top the world, a rank it has held for seven consecutive years.

It now has the third-largest patent office in the world, the largest trademark office and is a powerhouse producer of books, films and music, Gurry said.

"The transformation is extraordinary," Gurry said.

A growing number of foreign companies choose China a destination for patent and trademark applications, an indication of its popularity as a marketplace, he said.

"The International community is looking for leadership from China in the field of intellectual property," he noted.

(China Daily)