Intellectual

UN intellectual property watchdog set to discuss indigenous ownership next month

26 May 2005
Two draft provisions – one on protecting traditional cultural expression and folklore, the other for protecting traditional knowledge – are ready for consideration at a meeting of a United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) committee early next month, according to a senior WIPO official.

UN intellectual rights protector places more developing country issues on agenda

14 April 2005
Saying it has made "a major shift in priorities and direction" since its last meeting two years ago, a committee on development in the United Nations agency on intellectual property rights says developing countries must devise policies and strategies that turn their traditional knowledge, healing arts and culture into national assets.
World Bank officials at launch of new publication

Poorer countries must find new ways of protecting intellectual property, World Bank says

3 February 2005
Poor countries and peoples can reap the benefits of turning their own knowledge into commercial success if they find new ways of protecting and commercializing that information when the patent laws and the costly compliance of the rich countries fail to serve them, World Bank officials say.