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Knowledge on IP by LDCs facing daunting set of rules: Tofail |
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February 2, 2001
Lisbon-- (UNB) – Least Developed Countries (LDCs) require information and knowledge to develop the intellectual property (IP) protection schemes but the acquisition of knowledge on IP by LDCs is facing a daunting set of rules. This was stated by Industries Minister Tofail Ahmed while addressing the opening session of a high-level inter-regional roundtable on “Intellectual Property for the Least Developed Countries” at Centro Cultural De Belem in the capital of Portugal yesterday (Thursday), according to a message received here. He said industrialised world is now holding more than 97 percent of the worldwide stock of patents, so they are the beneficiaries of the intellectual property protection schemes. Organised jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Portugal Government, the purpose of the two-day roundtable is to provide policymakers and senior government officials of the LDCs with the opportunity to share experiences under the general theme “Innovation, Knowledge Society, Intellectual Property and the LDCs”. WIPO DG Dr Kamil Idris, UNCTAD Secretary General Rubens Ricoperu, Portuguese State Minister for economy Prof Victor Santos and Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister of Uganda Jehoash-Nkangi also addressed the opening session. Tofail said Paris and Berne conventions that covered patents and copyright matters under WIPO and trade-related aspects on Intellectual Property and Services (TRIPS) agreement under WTO—both are essentially based on intellectual property legislation in industrialised countries. He said the rationale for protection of intellectual property rights is strong. But, he said, “the way we are paying to the inventors is not beyond question.” He said that LDCs are striving for poverty alleviation, ensuring health care and basic needs for the people. “So, we could not invest in research and for LDCs it will be increasingly more difficult to acquire knowledge leading to further marginalisation.” He urged the industrialised world to find innovative ways of helping the LDCs with a view to not allowing the knowledge gap to increase. He also urged the WIPO and WTO to waive the scope and time limit for patents and copyright for LDCs to facilitate transfer of technology and technology diffusion. Elaborating the progress in Bangladesh to modernise laws relating to intellectual property rights and related issues, the Minister said, we are actively considering adhering to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and to the Patent Law Treaty. He said the government has taken steps to revise the laws and rules for patent, design and trademark to create omnibus legislation in full conformity with the Paris Convention and the TRIPS agreement. |