Minister’s Geneva trip first for the Pacific

05 October 2017, 12:00AM

The Minister for Commerce Industry and Labour, Lautafi Fio Purcell, and the Registrar of Intellectual Properties and the Chief Executive Officer of M.C.I.L, Pulotu. Lyndon Chu Ling, are in Geneva this week.

They are representing Samoa at the 57th General Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (W.I.P.O).

W.I.P.O currently has a membership of 191 countries. Samoa is the first Pacific Island Country to attend the General Assemblies of W.I.P.O Member States. 

The Minister delivered a Country Statement on behalf of Samoa to report on the progress of Intellectual Property (IP) development work in Samoa and to contribute to discussions on important issues such as the international protection of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. 

It will also be an opportunity for the Samoan delegation to discuss and confirm further support from W.I.P.O on specific areas of needs to continually improve IP development in Samoa.

Current collaborations with W.I.P.O will soon see the transformation of the current IP paper registration processes to online registration, the provision of affordable international protection of intellectual property rights of Samoan manufacturers, and the enhancement of local research capabilities through IP protection and technology transfer.

The General Assembly and the Coordination Committee are the main policy and decision-making bodies of the W.I.P.O. The General Assembly meetings bring together all member states of W.I.P.O, allowing them to take stock of the progress of W.I.P.O’s work and to discuss future policy directions on IP matters.

05 October 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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