World Intellectual Property Organization Adopts Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge; WilmerHale, August 26, 2024

• • • Daniel S. Volchok, Thomas G. Saunders, Laura E. Powell, WilmerHale; World Intellectual Property Organization Adopts Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge

"Following nearly twenty-five years of negotiations, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently adopted a treaty implementing the new requirement for international patent applicants to disclose in their applications any Indigenous Peoples and/or communities that provided traditional knowledge on which the applicant drew in creating the invention sought to be patented.1 The treaty was adopted at WIPO’s “Diplomatic Conference to Conclude an International Legal Instrument Relating to Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources,” which was held May 13–24.2 The goal of the treaty, known as the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, is to “prevent patents from being granted erroneously for inventions that are not novel or inventive with regard to genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.”3 This treaty—the first treaty of its kind, linking intellectual property and Indigenous Peoples—also aims to “enhance the efficacy, transparency and quality of the patent system with regard to genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.”4 

Once the treaty is ratified, patent applicants will have new (but nonretroactive) disclosure requirements for international patent applications."

Holy See welcomes ‘significant’ new treaty on intellectual property; Vatican News, July 10, 2024

 Joseph Tulloch, Vatican News ; Holy See welcomes ‘significant’ new treaty on intellectual property

"Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, has welcomed a historic new treaty on intellectual property.

In an address to members states of the UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the Archbishop called the treaty a “significant step forward”.

The treaty

WIPO member states adopted the agreement – which regards “Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge – in May of this year.

The treaty establishes a new disclosure requirement in international law for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge.

It was the first WIPO treaty in over a decade, as well as the first to evr deal with the genetic resources and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples."

Intellectual property: Protecting traditional knowledge from Western plunder; Frontine, May 15, 2024

 DEUTSCHE WELLE, Frontline; Intellectual property: Protecting traditional knowledge from Western plunder

"Stopping the loss of heritage and knowledge

“The problem? When a patent for traditional knowledge is granted to a third party, that party formally becomes the owner of such knowledge,” said Sattigeri. “The nation loses its heritage and its own traditional knowledge.” But now, that could be changing. In May 2024, WIPO’s 193 member states will meet and potentially ratify the first step of a legal instrument aimed at creating greater protections for these assets.

WIPO has broken them down into three areas seen as vulnerable under the current system: genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expression. Genetic resources are biological materials like plants and animals that contain genetic information, while traditional knowledge encompasses generational wisdom within communities, which is usually passed down orally. This could include knowledge about biodiversity, food, agriculture, healthcare, and more. Traditional cultural expression includes artistic creations reflecting a group’s heritage and identity, like music, art, and design.

“It changes the classic understanding of intellectual property,” said Dornis. “It might break the system that [says that] many things are unprotected.”"

Feds Seek Tribal Input on Tribal Intellectual Property Issues; Native News Online, October 28, 2023

NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF , Native News Online; Feds Seek Tribal Input on Tribal Intellectual Property Issues

"The U.S. Department of Commerce, through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, on Tuesday announced it seeks tribal input on tribal intellectual property issues...

In the upcoming consultation, the USPTO wants tribal input on how to best protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions as they are being discussed at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) were quick to applaud the decision to hold this long overdue consultation...

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their cultural and intellectual property, as well as the obligation for the United States to take measures to protect those rights. It is good that the United States is living up to its obligation to consult with Tribal Nations, and the concern now is to ensure that the consultation is meaningful and actually impacts the United States’ negotiation positions,” explained NARF Staff Attorney Sue Noe.

The Federal Register notice provides details for online webinars to be held in January 2024. Two of the four webinars will be for federally recognized Tribal Nations and two will be for state-recognized Tribal Nations, tribal members, Native Hawaiians, and inter-tribal organizations. The USPTO also invites related written comments, to be submitted by February 23, 2024...

More information is available on the Federal Register."

World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2023; World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2023

Women and IP: Accelerating innovation and creativity

"In 2023, we celebrate the “can do” attitude of women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs around the world and their ground-breaking work.

Women in all regions are shaping the world through their imagination, ingenuity and hard work, but often face significant challenges in accessing the knowledge, skills, resources and support they need to thrive."

AI and Copyright in China; Lexology, April 15, 2022

 Harris Bricken - Fred Rocafort, Lexology; AI and Copyright in China 

"In the landmark Shenzhen Tencent v. Shanghai Yingxun case, the Nanshan District People’s Court considered whether an article written by Tencent’s AI software Dreamwriter was entitled to copyright protection. The court found that it was, with copyright vesting in Dreamwriter’s developers, not Dreamwriter itself. In its decision, the court noted that “the arrangement and selection of the creative team in terms of data input, trigger condition setting, template and corpus style choices are intellectual activities that have a direct connection with the specific expression of the article.” These intellectual activities were carried out by the software developers.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has distinguished between works that are generated without human intervention (“AI-generated”) and works generated with material human intervention and/or direction (“AI-assisted”). In the case of AI-assisted works, artificial intelligence is arguably just a tool used by humans. Vesting of copyright in the humans involved in these cases is consistent with existing copyright law, just as an artist owns the copyright to a portrait made using a paintbrush or a song recorded using a guitar. The scenario in the Tencent case falls in the AI-assisted bucket, with Dreamwriter being the tool." 

WIPO’s Conversation on IP and AI to Continue as a Virtual Meeting; World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), May 29, 2020

Press Release, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); WIPO’s Conversation on IP and AI to Continue as a Virtual Meeting

"The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today published a revised issues paper on intellectual property policy and artificial intelligence (AI) as part of its ongoing consultation with stakeholders on the intersection of AI and IP policy and announced the dates of the rescheduled WIPO Conversation on Intellectual Property (IP) and Artificial Intelligence, which will take place online.

The Second Session of the WIPO Conversation on IP and AI will be held over three days from July 7 to 9, 2020 as a virtual meeting, in three daily sessions from 13:00 to 15:00 CET, to allow the broadest possible global audience to attend.

The First WIPO Conversation on AI and IP was convened by WIPO Director General Francis Gurryin September 2019 and brought together member states and other stakeholders to discuss the impact of Al on IP policy, with a view to collectively formulating relevant questions. 

Following that meeting, Mr. Gurry announced that WIPO would launch an open process to develop a list of issues concerning the impact of Al on IP policy and invited feedback on an issues paper designed to help define the most-pressing questions likely to face IP policy makers as AI increases in importance. The result of that public consultation is contained in the revised issues paper, which takes into account the more than 250 submissions received from a wide global audience on the call for comments.

The many respondents to the draft Issues Paper, including member states, academic, scientific and private organizations as well as individuals, are proof of the relevance and timeliness of and the significant engagement in the discussion on IP and AI. We look forward to continuing the Conversation in a more structured discussion in July on the basis of the revised Issues Paper.

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry""

In a first, China knocks U.S. from top spot in global patent race; Reuters, April 7, 2020

Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters; In a first, China knocks U.S. from top spot in global patent race

"China was the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world last year, pushing the United States out of the top spot it has held since the global system was set up more than 40 years ago, the U.N. patent agency said on Tuesday.

The World Intellectual Property Organization, which oversees a system for countries to share recognition of patents, said 58,990 applications were filed from China last year, beating out the United States which filed 57,840.

China’s figure was a 200-fold increase in just 20 years, it said. The United States had filed the most applications in the world every year since the Patent Cooperation Treaty system was set up in 1978. 

More than half of patent applications - 52.4 % - now come from Asia, with Japan ranking third, followed by Germany and South Korea."

WIPO Publishes Submissions on AI and IP Policy; IP Watchdog, February 24, 2020

James Nurton, IP Watchdog; WIPO Publishes Submissions on AI and IP Policy

"Twenty-two member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), more than 100 organizations, and over 100 individuals have submitted comments and suggestions in response to WIPO’s Draft Issues Paper on IP Policy and AI.

The submissions have been posted in the form and in the languages in which they were received on WIPO’s website.

The comments will feed into a revised issues paper for discussion at the second session of the WIPO Conversation on IP and AI, which takes place in Geneva in May 2020."

WIPO and U.S. Copyright Office Team Up to Talk Copyright in the Age of AI; IP Watchdog, February 17, 2020

Michelle Sara King, IP Watchdog; WIPO and U.S. Copyright Office Team Up to Talk Copyright in the Age of AI

"Earlier this month, the U.S. Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a joint event titled, “Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” (AI) at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The event explored how global copyright law and intellectual property law, as well as broader policy, may currently address AI technology, and included dialogue about changes that may be needed. Panelists also shared how AI is being utilized now and what future technology deployment and innovation may look like.

The event was part of a series of conversations organized by the U.S, Copyright Office and WIPO both in the United States and Europe, with the next conversation scheduled for May 11 and 12 in Geneva, Switzerland. The summit illustrated that AI presents unique opportunities for innovation, assuming intellectual property rights are respected, but questions remain in several areas, including whether machine learning is producing “original” work and whether the product of such software is inherently reproductive, derivative or the result of a system or process devoid of human action."

WIPO Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP Policy: Draft Issues Paper. (December 13, 2019). [Comments due by 2/14/20] 

WIPO Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP Policy: Draft Issues Paper. (December 13, 2019). [Comments due by 2/14/20] 

WIPO and the US Copyright Office Examine Artificial Intelligence and, to Lesser Extent, Intellectual Property; Info Justice, February 11, 2020

Sean Flynn and Andres Izquierdo, Info Justice; WIPO and the US Copyright Office Examine Artificial Intelligence and, to Lesser Extent, Intellectual Property

"On February 5, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) co-sponsored a well-attended event on Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The full-day event took an in-depth look at the development and operation of artificial intelligence (“AI”). It paid substantially less attention to the full range of intellectual property issues raised by this new field. 

The single-day event featured visual artists, audiovisual producers, music composers and executives, software developers, guilds of diverse artistic interests, people developing artificial intelligence, and (mostly perhaps) copyright lawyers." 

Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?; National Review, February 12, 2020

Tom Gionvanetti, National Review; Why Is the U.S. Surrendering the Global IP System to China?

"What a coup it will be for China to gain control over the global IP system at the same time that the U.S. is pressuring China over IP theft — and what a monumental miscalculation by those President Trump has trusted to further one of his key foreign-policy goals. Talk about playing the long game vs. the short game.

The election for WIPO’s top spot is on March 7. Candidates for the directorship remain from Japan, Singapore, and Colombia, and all of these would be superior choices from the perspective of the U.S. and other nations that create the kinds of innovative products that are targets of Chinese espionage and theft. But only immediate attention from the White House can prevent WIPO from becoming dominated by China, which would pose risks to the entire global IP system, and thus to U.S. security and innovation."

AI Update: WIPO Begins Public Consultation Process on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy; Lexology, January 15, 2020

Covington & Burling LLP - Gregory Discher, Lexology; AI Update: WIPO Begins Public Consultation Process on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy

"The World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) recently announced a public consultation process on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy. As part of the consultation process, WIPO concurrently published and has requested feedback on a wide-ranging draft IP Policy and AI Issues Paper that is intended to help define the most pressing AI-related questions likely to face IP policy makers in the areas of patents, copyright, and data.

The Issues Paper follows other recent WIPO activity pertaining to AI-related IP issues. In January 2019 WIPO issued a publication that surveyed the landscape of AI innovation since the field first developed in the 1950s, and in September 2019 WIPO held a Conversation on IP and AI.

Recognizing the significance and potential implications of the intersection of AI and intellectual property, two of the leading patent offices have now requested public comment. As discussed in a previous blog, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a “Request for Comments on Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions” on August 27, 2019. The USPTO subsequently issued a “Request for Comments on Intellectual Property Protection for Artificial Intelligence Innovation” on October 30, 2019, in which it seeks comments on the copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights issues that may be impacted by AI."

UN agency finds US, Asian companies seek most AI patents; Associated Press, January 31, 2019

Associated Press; UN agency finds US, Asian companies seek most AI patents

"The U.N.’s intellectual property organization says companies in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. are the top filers of patent applications involving artificial intelligence.

The World Intellectual Property Organization has issued a first report aiming to show trends in AI, seen as a growth area in coming years, although still a tiny fraction of all patent applications each year.

WIPO said Thursday that machine learning is the dominant AI technique disclosed in patents."

China keeps global crown in patent applications; Nikkei Asian Review, December 4, 2018

Rintaro Hosokawa, Nikkei Asian Review; China keeps global crown in patent applications

"China was responsible for around 40% of the 3.17 million patent applications submitted worldwide last year, putting the country at the top for the seventh straight year and driving Asia's growing presence in the global intellectual property arena.

The World Intellectual Property Organization said Monday China's 1.38 million applications mark a new record, though the group did not give a year-on-year percentage increase due to changes in the way China's patent office counted filings.

China's patent applications in 2017 mainly concerned electronic devices, computer technology and digital data transmission. Chinese tech companies, such as telecommunications equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE, significantly boosted their application counts.

At 607,000, patent applications from the U.S. were less than half of China's total. That places America in second place, followed by Japan's 318,000 applications in third and South Korea's 200,000 in the No. 4 spot."

WIPO Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions For Blind Readers Clears US Senate; Intellectual Property Watch, June 29, 2018

Intellectual Property Watch; WIPO Marrakesh Treaty On Copyright Exceptions For Blind Readers Clears US Senate

"The World Intellectual Property Organization Marrakesh Treaty on copyright exceptions enabling international access to published works by blind and print-disabled readers was ratified this week by the United States Senate, putting it one step closer to final ratification in the country.  

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print-Disabled was agreed in 2013.

On 28 June, the full US Senate ratified treaty and passed implementing legislation to amend Title 17 accordingly, the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S. 2559).

The implementing legislation now goes to the US House of Representatives, and then on to the President, according to the bill summary. The US will then have to prepare and deposit its instrument of ratification to WIPO."

Indigenous Knowledge Databases: Is It Something To Be Concerned About?; Intellectual Property Watch, June 28, 2018

Adithi Koushik, Intellectual Property Watch; Indigenous Knowledge Databases: Is It Something To Be Concerned About?

"Almost all information today ends up in a database. It is organised and made readily accessible. While it sounds positive, for indigenous communities, it can be crucial. Databases of their knowledge, culture and genetic resources, if misused, can undermine generations of community effort and maybe even their sustainability. A panel of indigenous peoples’ representatives presented their concerns about databases this week to governments attending a World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on genetic resources.  

The discussion in the Indigenous Panel at the 36^th round of the Intergovernmental Committee at WIPO, held between 25^th and 29^th of June, centered on the collection of material for, administration and use of databases and contracts."

China breaks patent application record; BBC News, 11/24/16

Leo Kelion, BBC News; China breaks patent application record:

"One patent expert - who asked not to be named - suggested the disparity between Chinese inventors' local and international filings reflected the fact that not all the claims would stand up to scrutiny elsewhere.

"The detail of what they are applying for means they would be unlikely to have the necessary degree of novelty to be granted a patent worldwide," he said.

But Wipo's chief economist said things were not so clear cut.

"There is clearly a discussion out there as to what is the quality of Chinese patents," said Carsten Fink.

"But questions have also been asked about US and other [countries'] patents.

"And one should keep in mind that China is a huge economy.

"If you look at its patent filings per head of population, there are still fewer patents being filed there than in the United States.""

IP Offices Focus On Educating Younger Population About IP Protection; Intellectual Property Watch, 9/6/16

Catherine Saez and Alexandra Nightingale, Intellectual Property Watch; IP Offices Focus On Educating Younger Population About IP Protection:

"Intellectual property rights awareness campaigns are increasingly targeting the younger population, as early as primary school, according to several country presentations at the World Intellectual Property Organization enforcement committee this week. WIPO is also developing an Education Took Kit for teachers of children aged 5 to 18. However for some countries, this education should encompass a broader view on IP than only enforcing rights."