CIEL hosts panel discussion on Civil Society Participation in the World Intellectual Property Organization, in parallel with the launch of CIEL's "A Citizens' Guide to WIPO"

October 1, 2007

CIEL is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on Civil Society Participation in WIPO in parallel with the launch of CIEL’s “A Citizen's Guide to WIPO” on Monday, 1 October 2007, 1pm -3pm at Salle Rachel Carson, Maison des Associations, Rue des Savoises 15, Geneva. Sandwiches provided.

The Citizen's Guide to WIPO gives an introduction to the issues at WIPO and aims to provide citizens and civil society organizations with the practical information required to promote and enhance their effective participation in WIPO discussions and activities.

The panel will discuss experiences with civil society participation at WIPO from multiple perspectives. The speakers will be:

• Wend Wendland (WIPO): Civil Society Participation in the IGC
• Nick-Ashton Hart (Consultant): Coalition-Building-The Broadcast Treaty Example
• Duncan Matthews (Queen Mary School of Law): The Role and Impact of Civil Society at WIPO

Although business groups, lawyer associations, and other intellectual property right-holder organizations have long been actively involved in WIPO, the broader participation of civil society is a relatively recent phenomenon. Most civil society organizations began their participation in WIPO with the establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC) in 2000. Today, civil society has also become involved in discussions in several other WIPO bodies, including the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents, the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights and – more recently – in the WIPO Development Agenda discussions. In all these cases, civil society participation has significantly enriched and balanced the debate. This panel will discuss the experiences and perspectives of different stakeholders with respect to Civil Society participation in WIPO.

 

For more information, please contact:

In Geneva: Dalindyebo Shabalala, dshabalala@ciel.org, +41-22-321-47-74.
In Washington, DC: Marcos Orellana, morellana@ciel.org, +1 202 785-8700.