Intellectual Property Rights Video Conference

Agenda

• The IPRs provisions of recent US FTAs: overview and economic context
  Carsten Fink (World Bank Institute, from Geneva)
  
  This first session will offer an overview of key elements in which IPRs provisions of recent US FTAs go beyond multilateral standards and what these provisions may mean in practice. Emphasis will be placed on the implications of the FTAs for the protection of public health, but aspects of copyright protection and IPRs enforcement will also be covered. The speaker will also offer a perspective on the intellectual bargain in trade agreements and outline broader economic and social effects from the adoption of new intellectual property standards.
  
  
• Implications of intellectual property rules for the protection of biodiversity
  David Vivas (International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development, from Geneva)
  
  This session will explain how intellectual property policies can affect the protection of biodiversity. In particular, it will review the relevant international agreements on IPRs and the protection of biodiversity, how they are related to each other, and how they are implemented at the national level. The speaker will then outline how the adoption of new IPRs standards may help or hinder the preservation of a country’s biodiversity.
  

• Negotiating intellectual property rules in trade agreements: lessons learned
  Prof. Frederick Abbott (Florida State University)
  
  Drawing on the experience of negotiating new IPRs rules in the context of recent bilateral and multilateral trade talks, this session will discuss some of the key lessons learned on how developing countries can defend their social and economic interests.