WIPO has elected two vice-chairs for the GA, Tunisia and Turkey. Tunisia now chairing.
Chile made a very nice statement on the public domain, copyright L&E, and access to knowledge.
The Tunisia chair just ruled that NGOs cannot speak today, and may only submit written statements. We may have opportunity later this week. The excuse was the “long list” of NGOs, but that not true. There were only about 4 or 5 on the list, including KEI, TWN and the WBU.
I just talked (12:10pm) with Ted Shapiro from the MPA. He said that he complained to the WIPO Secretariat that it “wasn’t fair” that these civil society NGOs were going to be allowed to speak, implying that the industry NGOs were not ready to speak. After the Shapiro complaint, Keppy approached Francis, who was sitting next to the Tunisian Vice-Chair, who then intervened to day NGOs could not speak at this time, due to the “long list” of speakers. This was quite bizarre, since the normal practice at WIPO is that NGOs are expected to be prepared to speak whenever the chair permits, and that would normally come after the country statements on a given agenda item.
The meeting this afternoon is focusing quite a bit on the budget, including a proposal for a fairly expensive and impressive meeting hall. Pakistan asks, what happens if WIPO moves out of Geneva? Spain, France, the US and other countries are not happy with the cost. China, Norway Finland and others like the building. Some drama now regarding the proposal. 5:21pm… apparently not really. It was approved.
People at the WIPO GA
K M Gopakumar, of TWN.
Manorie Malikaratch, delegate from Sri Lanka.
Richard Aching, delegate from Trinidad and Tobago.
Johannes Christian Wichard, now with the Federal Ministry of Justice in Germany, Johannes will be the new head of Global Issues for WIPO.
Susanne As Sivborg, head of the Sweden Patent Office, and candidate for President of EPO.
Bertrand Moullier, representing FIAPF.
Thiru Balasubramaniam of KEI, and Shira Perlmutter of IFPI.
Nick Aston-Hart, representing CCIA.