The link between intellectual property and the Sustainable Development Goals, efforts and projects to implement the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Development Agenda, as well as the issue of intellectual property offices in times of crisis were discussed at the 32nd session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) in Geneva, which was attended by the Ukrainian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Vitaliy Kindrativ.
This year’s World Intellectual Property Day was dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals and their inextricable link to innovation and IP.
“Threats to global security, food, energy, environment and even the nuclear crisis that arose shortly after the beginning of russia’s war against Ukraine give a completely new meaning to the values of sustainable development,” Vitaliy Kindrativ emphasised in his address at the beginning of the CDIP meeting.
The Ukrainian delegation drew the attention of the WIPO Secretariat and the Committee’s Member States to the devaluation of all their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals due to the war of the russian federation against Ukraine, and outlined the enormous damage to global security, food security, energy and environment, including nuclear safety.
“On 7 April, one of the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was directly targeted in the course of military operations and attacked by a russian drone. Each power outage in Ukraine is a serious threat of a nuclear accident... russia continues to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure, terrorise its people and deprive them of their livelihoods,” said Vitaliy Kindrativ.
The Ukrainian delegation stated that the russian federation should bear the legal consequences of all its internationally wrongful acts, including compensation for damages related to the losses of the Ukrainian intellectual property system, and that russia should be deprived of any privileges and honours within WIPO. In particular, it is imperative to close the WIPO External Office in moscow.
Ukraine’s statement was supported by the representatives of the delegations of Moldova (on behalf of the CEBS Regional Group), the Netherlands (on behalf of Regional Group B, developed countries), Belgium (on behalf of the European Union) and the United States of America, who called on russia to stop its military aggression and to abide by the principles and the UN Charter, and backed the WIPO Secretariat in its efforts to support Ukraine, its intellectual property system, and its innovation and creative sectors.
The Agenda of the 32nd session of CDIP also includes discussion of the project proposal submitted by the United Kingdom, Enhancing the Capacities of National Intellectual Property Offices in Times of Crisis (document CDIP/32/6), which provides for crisis management measures for IP offices. The proposed budget of the project is CHF 205,000.
The 32nd session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) takes place in Geneva on 29 April – 3 May 2024.