Statement by India at the 49th series of Meetings of Assemblies of member States of WIPO by Ambassador A. Gopinathan on 26 September 2011

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 Mr Chairman, Director General, Distinguished delegates and Ladies and Gentlemen,

 1.    I would like to congratulate you Mr Chairman for your election as Chair of the Assemblies of WIPO member States. Let me also convey the warm wishes and felicitations of the people and the Government of India to this august Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

2.       We are at a critical phase in so far as the developments in the area of intellectual property rights are concerned. While on one hand there is a move to form groupings to strengthen the existing regime and impose stiffer norms, on the other hand there is also a growing sensitivity among others to ensure that the regime is equitable to facilitate the fulfilment of the aspiration of a majority of humanity and address their concerns while ensuring that the innovative process remains unhampered.  There is a need to balance the rights of the innovators against the cost that is imposed upon the society due to the very protection that is provided. This is a delicate issue and I am sure each one of us here is facing it in our countries.

3.       ‘Innovation is at the heart of long term economic growth and international competitiveness’ is an oft repeated phrase. India has experienced consistently buoyant growth rates in the past. We need to continuously remain on a high growth path to ensure that the huge backlog of unmet demands, whether it is education, health, water or energy availability is addressed. We need innovation to make growth more inclusive as well as environmentally sustainable.

4.       Realizing the importance of nurturing innovation to achieve a higher growth path, improve India’s competitiveness in the world market and provide access to essential services India has declared 2010-2020 as the Decade of Innovation.  Subsequently, the National Innovation Council has been established. We have also set up a Sectoral Innovation Council on intellectual property rights with an objective to formulate India’s national IPR strategy for encouraging innovation with a view to adequately address the key concerns of sustainable development, inclusive growth and food security. The Council will also formulate the medium term policy objectives that can be the building blocks of the envisaged IPR strategy.

5.       Intellectual Property Right framework is arguably one of the important aspects of the innovation eco system.  There are policy makers and economists who feel that the legal right that an intellectual property right provides drives technological innovation. It creates an incentive to innovate. But then, on the other hand, it is also true that this system of legal rights creates monopoly situations and hinders competition and even access to technology for further adaptation and use in unrelated sectors. In that sense, it affects growth. It is to address this very issue that the concept of technology transfer has become very important. Technology transfer provides a mechanism by way of which technological innovations can be shared while protecting the interests of the innovator.  The issue of technology transfer needs to be addressed adequately by Member States and policies that facilitate this transfer should be encouraged. 

Mr Chairman,

6.       India is a strong believer in multilateralism and it remains committed to supporting WIPO’s crucial role as a UN agency which has been mandated to promote IP as a means to achieve economic development. In this context, India is pleased with the progress recently registered in several Committees of WIPO. We are pleased with the considerable progress we have made in the IGC in terms of evolving comprehensive texts on TK, TCEs and GR, following the mandate in 2009 for text based negotiations to finalize legal instrument/s on GRTKF.  While we welcome the proposed renewal of the mandate of the Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) on GRTKF for the 2012-13 biennium to expedite the negotiations based on a clearly defined work program, we hope that there will be closure on GRTKF issues in this biennium, with a text or texts of an international legal instrument or instruments being submitted to the General Assemblies for convening a Diplomatic Conference.  We are also happy that the Bali Texts on TCEs, TK and GR submitted by the Group of Like-Minded Developing Countries including India, can now contribute in accelerating the finalization of the texts as working documents of the IGC.  As one of the countries that continue to be most affected by misappropriation and biopiracy, we attach great importance to the early finalization of international legal instruments on all three issues and the convening of a Diplomatic Conference within the biennium 2012-13.

7.       We are happy to see the progress being made on the draft Treaty on Exceptions and Limitations for making copyrighted works accessible to Visually Impaired Persons. We also look forward to similar timely progress being made with regard to the exceptions and limitations for Libraries and Archives, Research, Education and other disabled groups, as outlined in the SCCR work program.
 

8.       We are also pleased to note the forward movement on the two long-pending Treaties – the Treaty for the protection of Audiovisual Performances and the Treaty for protection of Broadcasting Organisations. We are similarly encouraged by the progress being made on the Broadcasting Treaty and hope to arrive at a closure in the negotiations based on the 2007 General Assembly mandate for the protection of broadcasting organization on a signal-based approach in the traditional sense, without extending it to the digital environment such as web-casting or internet-based broadcasting.

9.       We are happy at the progress being made in implementing the Development Agenda recommendations through relevant projects in the CDIP.  The Development Agenda is an overarching framework that calls for a conceptual paradigm shift by placing IP in the larger context of socio-economic development, instead of viewing IP as an end in itself.  It replaces the one-sided, simplistic notion that “IP is good. More IP is even better” with a more nuanced and calibrated view that “IP is good when it serves as a tool to enhance economic growth and social development and is tailored to suit a country’s specific needs and situation”.

10.     We are also happy to note the new focus on exploring how IP could contribute to finding solutions for the pressing global challenges faced by the world today, in the areas of Health, Food Security and Climate Change. We are encouraged to see that the newly set up Global Challenges Division in WIPO is looking at these important issues. Given the fact that these are critical issues that impact developing countries like India the most, we would urge the Global Challenges Division to report regularly to Member States in a relevant inter-governmental Committee. This would enable Member States to periodically update themselves on the work being undertaken by WIPO in this area; guide the Program where required; and benefit from the Program output for use in the national context, wherever possible.
Mr Chairman

11.     India considers the growth of Small & Medium Enterprise Sector as extremely critical for development. We are confident that WIPO will continue its intensive association as in the past with the SME sector. Needless to say that since the SME sector has a bouquet of IP interests covering patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications and copyright, any intervention aimed at this sector must be comprehensive in nature and have a dedicated implementing unit.

12.     I would like to thank the WIPO Secretariat for the excellent documentation and arrangements for the meeting. I am confident that the present session will enable intensive deliberations and play a positive role in guiding WIPO’s work. The Indian delegation looks forward to participating and contributing to this important meeting.

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