WIPO Hosts Highlevel IP Forum for LDCs

(This doesn't address Civil Law but my other interest, IP)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presented a high-level forum on December 12, 2007 with the intent of exploring possibilities to enhancing capacity in the field of intellectual property (IP) as a strategic policy approach to utilizing the IP system for alleviating poverty and promoting wealth creation in least developed countries (LDCs). The forum provided an opportunity for ministers, senior policy-makers and Geneva-based diplomats from LDCs to exchange views and gain insights regarding IP capacity building measures for the use and management of the IP system... It also focused on exploring practical solutions to questions about how the IP system can be developed to serve as a policy tool for economic growth in LDCs.

Ministers from a number of LDCs held a special plenary session on the theme: “Building IP Capacity and a Knowledge Base for Wealth Creation, Social and Cultural Development”. The plenary session was followed by a series of presentations by international experts on a range of topics, including the use of the patent system for technology development and transfer; strengthening business identifiers to facilitate the commercialization of products and services generated by LDCs; the role of copyright and related rights and collective management societies as a contributor of economic growth; recent international developments in the area of IP and traditional knowledge, genetic resources and expressions of folklore; the role of higher education and research and development institutions in LDCs as catalysts of national innovation; and building capacity in all relevant areas of IP in accordance with national development plans. The program is available at: http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/mdocs/en/wipo_ip_ldc_ge_07/wipo_ip_ldc_ge_07_inf_1_prov_3.doc