WIPO Asia - Pacific Regional Forum on Policy Development, Institution Building and Demystification on Intellectual Property
August 29-31, 2001 New Delhi

Opening Remarks by Mr. Narendra K. Sabharwal, Director, Cooperation for Development Bureau for Asia and the Pacific World Intellectual Property Organization

Mr. Govindarajan, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion,
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Mr Chirayu R. Amin, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
Dr. K. Anji Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy's Laboratory and the Institute of Intellectual Property Development (IIPD)
Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
Distinguished Participants and Panelists
Honored Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honor and a pleasure for me to welcome you all, on the occasion of the WIPO Asia- Pacific Regional Forum on Policy Development, Institution Building and Demystification of Intellectual Property. I convey to you warm greetings from Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and his best wishes for a successful meeting. WIPO is pleased to be able to organize, along with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), such an important policy meeting for senior representatives from the Government, the private sector and heads of IP Offices from countries of Asia and the Pacific region, for the third year in succession. We attach great importance to this Forum and the participation of eminent and senior experts and representatives of 22 countries from our region augurs well for its success.

May I take this opportunity to express, on behalf of WIPO, our war, appreciation for the excellent collaboration by the Government of India through the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Federation on Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and the Institute of Intellectual property Development (IIPD), with whom we have always had fruitful and wide-ranging cooperation, for making excellent arrangements for This forum, and for their warm welcome and gracious hospitality.

I should like to especially convey our gratitude to the Honorable Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Murasoli Maran, as well as Secretary Govindarajan, Mr. A.E. Ahmad, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, and his colleagues for the cooperation extended to WIPO. We are impressed with the drive, dynamism and foresight displayed by the honorable Minister and his colleagues, in strengthening and modernizing the Intellectual Property Systems in India. The array of modern and progressive legislations enacted or finalized in the areas of trademarks, geographical indications, industrial design, patents, copyright, integrated circuits, plant variety protection and information technology coupled with significant modernization plans being implemented to strengthen the administrative and enforcement institutions, are a testimony to the resolve of the Government to utilize intellectual property as a tool and as a catalyst for accelerating economic, social and cultural development in India. WIPO has been privileged to be an active partner in assisting India's efforts at modernizing her intellectual property system; and (on a personal note) I am particularly proud of having been associated with this process, not only in India but also in all other countries of the region.

The past few years have witnessed dynamic changes in the intellectual property policy and operational environment which have brought intellectual property to the forefront of international and national policy debate and agenda. At least four main factors have contributed to this center staging of intellectual property. These factors are: globalization, the convergence of digital and telecommunications revolutions, rapid technological advances and the interaction between several important global issues and intellectual property.

The globalization of economies, which began in the last century, is proceeding ahead despite the current debate about its direction and scope. This is resulting in greater global competition, restructuring of industries, deregulation, privatization and further dismantling of trade and tariff barriers. It has also resulted in easy access to information, technologies, finance, markets and innovative models of business as well as a whole range of new products and services. This phenomenon continues to fuel the need for internationally accepted norms and procedures for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights across national boundaries. The need to be globally competitive for products and services and to explore new market niches also necessitates much greater reliance on intellectual property assets such as patents, industrial designs, trademarks, brand names, copyright and geographical indication.

Internet and the digital revolution have had a profound effect on intellectual property development. From currently about 200 million persons connected to the Internet, the global on-line population is predicted to be nearly 250 million users in 2002 and about 500 million users by 2005, roughly half of them in Asia. Traffic on the Internet continues to double its volume every 100 days. The effect on the growth of e-commerce is even more startling. Starting from basically 0 level in 1995, total commerce grew to US$26 billion in 1997, $330 billion in 2001-2001 and projected to attain a remarkable 3.3 trillion in 2003-2005. What is noteworthy is that these estimates will plummet to half if security issues and those regulating intellectual property related problems are not resolved. These areas include tension between domain names and trademarks, patenting of business models, protection of software, sound and video recordings, databases etc.

Apart from advancements in information and communication technologies, great strides are being made in development of enabling technologies such as biotechnology, nano technology, microtechnology, environment and materials technology. The advancements in these technologies are the result of the incentive provided by intellectual property protection for research and development and also the reason for adequate protection of intellectual property rights for their management, exploitation and further development in the future. All these developments are critical and valuable for the way business and trade will be conducted and managed in the future with legal and technical implications for intellectual property protection and its enforcement.

Another factor which has contributed to this development is that intellectual property has become a global issue because of its salience to key and critical policy fields such as trade, investment, technology development and transfer, health, environment, biodiversity, food security, human rights, traditional knowledge, culture and heritage. No where is the relevance of intellectual property as a global issue more noticeable than the adoption of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement), which has brought intellectual property to the center stage of global trade negotiations.

In short, the fundamental and radical transformation that the global economy has been undergoing through advancement in information and other technologies, and the inter play between global policy issues and intellectual property has brought the critical role of intellectual property in sharp focus in the present day knowledge-based economies. Services and goods that embody new ideas, concepts and images have greater value than traditional manufactures and commodities. Knowledge technology and innovative ways of managing businesses increasingly determine market success. Competitiveness is contingent on the ability to generate ideas and to exploit these for commercial benefit.

These developments have led to a heightened awareness on the part of the developing countries that intellectual property protection and management has profound implications for promoting international trade, foreign direct investment, technology transfer and social and cultural development. Concomitantly, this has led to increased attention by the developing countries for establishing modem and efficient intellectual property systems and creating a culture where intellectual property is promoted and used for creative wealth, jobs and welfare.

Since 1999, at the threshold of the new millennium, the countries of Asia and the Pacific region and WIPO considered it opportune to take stock of the fast evolving intellectual property environment and identify the main components of a viable intellectual property policy and strategy. Several policy fora such as the present one, in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and Vanuatu, (to name only a few), at regional and sub-regional levels brought together legislators, policymakers, intellectual property experts and the user community together. These fora have identified a number of areas for increased attention and it would be useful to mention them so that we could further deliberate on these subjects:

• demystifying intellectual property through public outreach programs
• establishing sustainable institutions and modernizing intellectual property systems using information technology
• facing intellectual property challenges of the new technologies including digital technology, biotechnology and commerce
• analyzing intellectual property implications relating to global issues such as traditional knowledge, folklore and access to genetic resources
• empowering the enterprise sector particularly the SMEs to optimally utilize the intellectual property system and promoting innovative activities
• enabling countries to benefit from the WIPO Global Protection Systems, and
• promoting effective enforcement

The vision of the Director General, Dr. ldris, is to make intellectual property relevant and beneficial to all countries and to all sections of the society, through a Global Intellectual Property Development Strategy, which combines political imagination, goodwill and collaboration among the Member States, the market sector and the secretariat of WIPO.

By creating an intellectual property minded community and encouraging an intellectual property culture, we can help ensure the recognition that a strong, well functioning intellectual property system is a major element of economic policy that can have a positive and significant impact on economic growth as well as creating a market-oriented and business-friendly environment that encourages direct foreign investment, trade, technology transfer and local innovation and creativity.

To create such an enlightened consciousness, WIPO has launched a public outreach program in order not only to inform and educate all concerned about the role and importance of intellectual property as a resource and a tool for progress, but also to demystify and depoliticize the intellectual property debate. The blueprint of a modular, sequential and scalable program has been prepared, which can be used by any country according to its needs.

WIPO has crafted several responses to the challenges posed by the global integration of economies and the digital revolution, which are mainly reflected in WIPO's global protection systems and the I0-point Digital Agenda of WIPO.

Member States and rightsholders around the world are increasingly resorting to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Madrid System for the international protection of marks and the Hague system for the international registration of industrial designs for obtaining industrial property rights in several countries of their choice in an expeditious and cost effective manner. PCT is a remarkable success story and becoming increasingly popular among developing countries, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region. The highest
growth rate in PCT filings in 2000 over 1999 was observed in India (156%), China (141%) and the Republic of Korea (92%).

Another key thrust of WIPO's program is using information technology to both streamline WIPO's internal procedures and to help bridge the so-called 'digital divide'. A key project is the establishment of WIPOnet - a global information network between and among all WIPO Member States that will facilitate access to and exchange of information across the globe and enhance the use of the intellectual property system for accelerating the development process. Under this project, some 160 national offices will be connected to WIPOnet by the end of 2002. Simultaneously, information technology is also being advocated by WIPO for efficient and expeditious management of IP administrations and the user organizations.

The WIPO Internet Treaties' dealing with copyright of performances and phonograms in a digital environment and the highly successful uniform dispute resolution procedure for resolving disputes between trademarks and domain names are notable initiatives of WIPO. A second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process is currently under way to address problems dealing with conflicts between domain names and international nonproprietary names (INNs) for pharmaceutical substances, names of international intergovernmental organizations, personal names, geographical indications, indications of source and geographical terms and trade names.

In another recent development, WIPO held the first meeting of its new Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. Member States supported further work to advance an understanding on how intellectual property can be used in the area of traditional knowledge and folklore and mandated the organization to develop model intellectual property contractual clauses dealing with access to genetic resources and benefit sharing. WIPO views this as a very positive result indicating a desire to view the knowledge economy in a comprehensive manner, which includes traditional knowledge.

The Organization has taken a major step in reaching out to a key group of economic and business players that form the backbone of most national economies: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Making SMEs more aware of the value of intellectual property and helping them realize its potential can have a major impact on their competitiveness and thereby on operational and financial efficiency. An initial development in this respect is the recently launched special SMEs website to provide a succinct and reader-friendly overview of the main reasons why attention should be focused on the intellectual property system along with the practical tips on how to make the
best use of it.

As we continue to confront and respond to new challenges, a simple principle must guide the approach of the international IP community: that intellectual property is a user-friendly, multi purpose tool which can be utilized by governments and stakeholders for their benefit. Like all sophisticated tools, however, the IP tool also has to be carefully crafted and competently used. WIPO considers it vital to work closely with Member States and the market sector to ensure that the IP system remains supple and adaptable to the changing needs of our rapidly evolving societies.

The program of this Forum has been designed to stimulate a dialogue among the policymakers, administrators, supervisors and users of the intellectual property system focusing on certain critical aspects of intellectual property development in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.

We are grateful to the eminent panelists for accepting our invitation to come and share their knowledge and expertise with us, and I would like to introduce them to you in alphabetical order: Mr. Shahid ALIKHAN, Former Deputy Director General of WIPO, Hyderabad: Mr. Pravin ANAND. Partner

Anand & Anand Advocates, New Delhi; Mrs. Emma FRANCISCO, Director General, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPO), Makati; Mr. lan HEATH, Director General, IP Australia, Phillip A.C.T., Canberra; Mr. LI Mingde, Professor/Researcher, China Academy of Social Science, Beijing; Ms. Ruth MACKAY, Customer Service Manager, IP Australia, Phillip A.C.T., Canberra; Mr. R. A. MASHELKAR, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, New Delhi; Mr. QIAO Dexi, Director General, International Cooperation Department, State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), Beijing; Dr. K. Anji REDDY, Chairman, Reddy's Laboratory and Chairman, Institute of Intellectual Property Development (IIPD), New Delhi, and Mr. Young-Sang YOO, Deputy Commissioner, Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Taejon

May I also introduce to you my colleague, Mr. Hossein Moayedoddin, who has worked hard for the arrangements and the success of this meeting.

Distinguished participants, panelists and guests, before concluding, I should like to once again convey WIPO's appreciation and gratitude to the Government of India, FICCI and IIPD for the support and cooperation extended in organizing this important Forum.

I am confident that this Forum will have active deliberations and a fruitful conclusion. And I wish it all success.

Thank you.