South-South Exchange on Infrastructure and Institutional Capacity for an Effective Use of the

Patent System in Developing Countries and LDCs

Maha Bakhiet Zaki (Phd)

Director, Intellectual Property & Competitiveness Department

Economic Sector

League of Arab States

maha.bakheet@las.int

Cairo

The conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) between LAS and WIPO in 2000 , opened a new

avenue of cooperation, coordination and consultation

between both organizations .

Annual consultation meeting , as well as specialized

workshops and seminars in the different fields of

intellectual property (IP) have been co-organized by our

respective organization for the Arab countries . We

strongly believe that LAS, together with its specialized

organizations, and WIPO, are ideally placed to address

the interests, concerns and needs of the Arab countries

in the field of IP .

The concerns and needs of the Arab countries have

changed and developed with the changing landscape of

IP issues since the conclusion of our MOU in 2000.This

would require both organizations to work closely to

develop a common understanding of the issues which

represent challenges and opportunities for Arab

countries in the field of IP and how best to address

them .

We fully understand and realize that national policies

have an impact on issues that are of crucial importance

to innovation and economic development such as the

innovation infrastructure of a country ; the

competitiveness of domestic enterprises ; the ability to

access international technology markets; the links

between public research organizations and private

companies in the field of research and development .

All Arab states have enacted IP legislation to ensure

compliance with international treaties . Considerable

efforts have also been made to ensure an effective

management of the patents offices in charge of the

registration and grant of patents rights to provide

enterprises with a reliable mechanism for protecting

their creating and innovations . Nevertheless, a key

challenge now remains for us how to enhance south-

south cooperation .

The new reality in dealing with IP issues the Arab region

was clearly reflected in the final declaration of the

summit’s south-south cooperation.

South-South Cooperation

Arab-South American Cooperation-:

ASPA summit I Brasilia 2005.

ASPA summit II Doha , Qatar 2009.ASPA summit III Lima, Peru October 2012

Doha Declaration 2009

the Heads of State and Government of the Arab and South American Countries, in our Second Summit held in Doha (31/3/2009), upon the generous invitation of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and inaccordance with what was stipulated in our First Summit, held in Brasilia (10-11/5/2005),upon the invitation of His Excellency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, who co-presided the First Summit together with His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, as the Chairman of the Arab Summit, with keenness to work on promoting Arab-South American relations and to benefit from its available chances, and coordinating bi-regional efforts to build a strong community in which mutual benefits can be exchanged and common interests protected, in the framework of constructive and concrete relations agree:

Cooperation in the field of IP

Exchange information and documents, including information about updating laws and regulations regarding protection of intellectual property rights, basic information, and statistics on patents and infringement of intellectual property rights to enhance the League of Arab States and South American countries´ roles as sources of information nonintellectual property in Arab and South American countries. Stress the importance of exchanging information and collaboration in the field of copyrights and neighboring rights, as well as provide the means and procedures for the due compliance with copyrights and neighboring rights in accordance with each country’s national laws and the related international conventions to which they are parties.

Promote cooperation among intellectual property offices and activities for the exchange of experiences in managing intellectual property rights. Reaffirm our commitment for the full implementation of the mandate contained in paragraph 19 of the Doha Development Agenda, concerning the examination of the relationship between the TRIPs Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore.

Promote Promote cooperation among intellectual property offices and activities for the exchange of experiences in managing intellectual property rights. Reaffirm our commitment for the full implementation of the mandate contained in paragraph 19 of the Doha Development Agenda, concerning the examination of the relationship between the TRIPs Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore.

Organize and hold joint meetings, educational seminars and training programs on different intellectual property issues.

Reaffirm the importance of balanced intellectual property systems and welcome the adoption, in 2007, by WIPO, of 45 Recommendations to enhance the development dimension in the Organization and the adoption by WHO of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property in 2008, and their commitment to implement the intellectual property rights and public health goals laid out in the WTO’s Doha Declaration.

The general secretariat of the league of Arab states (Intellectual Property) welcomes the personal of Brazil to host the meeting of the institutions for management of Intellectual Property offices in the Arab states and south American countries on 22nd &23rd November 2010 in Brazil . In the frame work of what was agreed upon during the Sixth Meeting of High Officials of ASPA, and what was discussed between the Intellectual Property Unit in the Arab league and Brazil during the coordination meeting , which held in Geneva at 24 Sep.2010.

WIPO/ LAS fifth regional coordination meeting for heads of industrial property offices . Beirut 12 October 2009

The Heads of State and Government of the South American and Arab Countries, gathered for the III ASPA Summit on October 2nd, 2012, in Lima, Peru, took note with satisfaction of the activities and achievements that have taken place since the II ASPA Summit in Doha, Qatar, and reaffirmed their commitment about the need to further develop bi-regional relations and consolidate ASPA. For this purpose, and in order to develop the future activities of ASPA, they agreed to :

Lima Declaration 2nd October 2012

• Promote efforts to coordinate positions where possible in international fora in issues of common concern in the field of intellectual property and explore the possibility to establish a common data base on information related to patent and managerial expertise , legislation and the regular exchange between national institution responsible for intellectual property in Arab countries and the countries of south America , in this sense, welcome the outcome of the joint meeting held in Beirut(October,14th -15th 2009)

the Heads of State and Government of African and Arab Countries, meeting in our Second Africa-Arab Summit in Sirte, Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, on 10/10/2010

Affirming our desire to promote relations between Africa and the Arab world, boost cooperation between them, and establish a strategic partnership aimed at ensuring justice, peace and international security and development for the people of the two regions.

Affirming also our commitment to the goals and principles enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) and the Charter of the League of Arab States (LAS).

Africa Arab Cooperation

Further affirming our adherence to international conventions, in particular those related to respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of States, as well as non-interference in their internal affairs, international cooperation, respect for human rights and international humanitarian law; and sustainable development for the benefit of all peoples

Recalling the Declaration and Program of Action of the First Africa-Arab Summit, held in Cairo in March 1977, and relevant resolutions and decisions of successive African and Arab Summits, particularly the 6th Arab Summit held in Algiers in November 1973, 22nd Arab Summit held in Sirte in March 2010, and the 15th AU Assembly held in Kampala , in July 2010, all of which affirmed the importance of exerting continuous efforts and removing obstacles that hinder the active development of Africa-Arab cooperation, based on common interests in the political, economic, social and cultural fields to further consolidate the foundations that safeguard Africa-Arab relations.

Sirte Declaration

Stress commitment to protect intellectual property rights, and the need for Intellectual property not to be used to prevent developing countries from accessing basic scientific and technological discoveries, or from taking measures to promote national development

The Second Africa-Arab Summit

In the field of Intellectual Property (IP):Cooperation in the field of benefiting from the information on patents to promote competitiveness and economic offices.Cooperation in preparing a study on Intellectual Property Rights in African and Arab Countries and the link between IP and economic and social development in the light of technology capacity available for the two organizations.Support, assistance, and cooperation in collecting, documenting, protecting, and marketing the Intellectual Property assets which include traditional, cultural, and folkloric knowledge and genetic resources.

Third Africo-Arab Summit The Kuwait November 2013

Jordan’s Proposal:Identifying and Getting acquainted with the Brazilian experience in the field of raising awareness of intellectual property, with a special focus on schools,The mechanisms and techniques of substantive examination of patent applicationsHow to develop a national IP policyThe Brazilian experience in geographical indicators protection •

Arab Countries proposals

KSA’s ProposalThe management of IP office, in general and Patent Office, in particular.Benefiting form the legal experience of the Brazilian Office, especially vis-à-vis system setup .Setting an examination mechanism and developing a patent examiner guidebook .Patent application examination technique .

Mechanism for addressing infringements.Benefiting from the E-filing technique and the electronic internal transaction technique used in the Brazilian Office Benefiting from the application of the Brazilian technology transferee concept Benefiting from the Brazilian experience in supporting inventors and marketing their inventions .contributing to the development of a national IP policy.

Yemen proposal

The possibility of providing information about the way of addressing geographic indicators (inventory and identification of geographic indicators and their protection at national and international levels;

The possibility of providing information in relation to preparing and drafting patent applications, in addition to providing information concerning the methods of formal and substantive examination of inventions

Ways and experiences applied in the optimal utilization of national inventions;Identifying the fields and methods of technical cooperation between the Arab Region and South America;Proposing means and methods of technology transfer and capacity building of the countries of the region, especially Arab LDCs.

The privileges and commitments upon accession to relevant international conventions Lisbona Agreement on the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration

Sudan’s Proposal: Sudan wants more knowledge about other intellectual property fields, especially Genetic Resources and TK, Commercial Secrets, New Plant Varieties and lay-out designs (topograpgies) of integrated circuits.

Iraq’s Proposal: Policies on intellectual property, in general, and industrial property, in particular.,Methods of disseminating IP culture to raise public’s awareness of its importanceMechanisms of legal and formal examination upon receiving patent applicationsTechnical(substanial) examination, and the most important points to be focused on ;

The state-of-art systems for patent documentary searchingInternational classification techniques and their latest developments ;Latest techniques in documentary research processesPromoting patents and facilitating their utilizationGeographic indicators protection mechanism

Oman’s Proposal Shedding light on geographic indicators and their applications- Traditional Knowledge- Patents and technology transfer.

For more informationFor more information : :

maha.bakheet@las.int

www.arabip.org

Thank You