13 | 10 | 2011

The Office delegation at the 49th Annual Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

The 49th Annual Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held in Geneva from September 26 to October 5, 2011, were attended by Mr. Željko Topić, director general and Mrs. Ljiljana Kuterovac, deputy director general to SIPO, as the members of a delegation from the Republic of Croatia. Representatives of 184 member states of WIPO, having met at the Assemblies, deliberated on the substantive work of the Organization over the last year, and a series of decisions were taken related to the future work and activities.

The adopted Program and Budget for the 2012/2013 Biennium, with the revenue of a total of 647 million Swiss francs was noted as the most significant outcome of the Assemblies; as well as the convention of a diplomatic conference towards developing an international treaty concerning the rights of performers over their audiovisual performances, following production of a compromise text of transfer of rights. There was also emphasized a renewal of the mandate to the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). In addition to the mentioned outstanding outcomes the positive continuation of the progress in other areas was acknowledged (for example: the new impetus towards developing an international treaty to update the protection of broadcasting organisations, the progress towards developing the legal instruments regarding the work to facilitate the access to copyrighted work by persons with print disabilities, the progress achieved on the IT projects in the field of the Madrid and the Hague agreements.

The video-recorded Assemblies broadcasted via the Internet and detailed information on the work and outcomes of the WIPO Assemblies are available at the www.wipo.int.

With regard to the membership of the Republic of Croatia in working bodies of WIPO, a renewal of the membership mandate was noted at the Coordinating Committee of WIPO for the period from October 2011 to October 2013, and the election of a regular member to the executive board of the Paris Union.

In the margins of the WIPO Assemblies, in Geneva were signed two memoranda of understanding between the Office and international organizations-Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Cooperation Between the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) and SIPO signed on September 27, and Memorandum of Understanding on Communications by Electronic Means Under the Procedures of the Madrid System Between SIPO and the International Bureau of WIPO, signed on October 5, 2011.