Geneva
15h56
On Thursday, 12 July 2018, at the 28th session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) countries are negotiating over the mandate of WIPO’s future work program on a suite of issues including: 1) Exceptions and Limitations to Patent Rights, 2) Quality of Patents, including Opposition Systems, 3)Patents and Health, 4) Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and Their Patent Advisors, and 5) Transfer of Technology.
In relation to patents and health, the Chair proposed the following work program:
A half-day conference on publicly accessible databases on patent information status and data, on medicines and vaccines, will be held at SCP/29, taking into consideration the issues addressed in paragraphs 18 and 19 of the Annex to document SCP/24/4 (Proposal by the African Group for a Work Program on Patents and Health).
Member States will share technical information on their practices regarding compulsory licensing and voluntary licensing of medical technologies at SCP/29, giving a particular attention to paragraph 16 of Annex to document SCP/24/4 (Proposal by the African Group for a Work Program on Patents and Health).
The Committee will continue discussion on the proposal by the Delegations of Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Switzerland (document SCP/28/9 and 9 Add.) and the proposal by the Delegations of Argentina, Brazil and Switzerland (SCP/28/10) at SCP/29, without prejudice to other proposals with respect to this agenda item.
At this stage, it remains unclear how the final text for WIPO’s future work program for the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents will play out. The entire text of version one of the Chair’s text is reproduced below.
SCP/28: Suggestion by the Chair
v.1
AGENDA ITEM 13: FUTURE WORK
The Committee decided its future work as follows:
The non-exhaustive list of issues will remain open for further elaboration and discussion at the next session of the SCP.
Without prejudice to the mandate of the SCP, the Committee agreed that its work for the next session be confined to fact-finding and not lead to harmonization at this stage, and would be carried out as follows:
Exceptions and Limitations to Patent Rights
In accordance with the agreement within the Committee at SCP/26, the Secretariat will continue to work on a draft reference document on exceptions and limitations to patent rights in conjunction with patent protection. The Secretariat will prepare a draft reference document on the research exception, which will be submitted to SCP/29. It will follow the style and structure of the draft reference document on the exception regarding acts for obtaining regulatory approval from authorities (document SCP/28/3). Document SCP/28/3 will be kept open for future discussion by the Committee. The Secretariat will invite Member States to send any additional inputs for the preparation of the draft reference document on the research exception.
Quality of Patents, including Opposition Systems
The Secretariat will prepare a further study on inventive step (part 2), giving a particular attention to the topics suggested in paragraph 8 of Annex to document SCP/24/3 (Proposal by the Delegation of Spain).
A half-day conference on cooperation between patent offices in search and examination, including sharing of information concerning the corresponding foreign applications and grants, will be held at SCP/29.
A sharing session will be held at SCP/29 on approaches used by delegations to ensure the quality of the patent grant process within IP offices, including opposition systems, and any challenges faced and how they have been overcome, taking into consideration paragraph 7.a. of Annex to document SCP/28/8 (Proposal by the Delegations of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom).
Patents and Health
A half-day conference on publicly accessible databases on patent information status and data, on medicines and vaccines, will be held at SCP/29, taking into consideration the issues addressed in paragraphs 18 and 19 of the Annex to document SCP/24/4 (Proposal by the African Group for a Work Program on Patents and Health).
Member States will share technical information on their practices regarding compulsory licensing and voluntary licensing of medical technologies at SCP/29, giving a particular attention to paragraph 16 of Annex to document SCP/24/4 (Proposal by the African Group for a Work Program on Patents and Health).
The Committee will continue discussion on the proposal by the Delegations of Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Switzerland (document SCP/28/9 and 9 Add.) and the proposal by the Delegations of Argentina, Brazil and Switzerland (SCP/28/10) at SCP/29, without prejudice to other proposals with respect to this agenda item.
Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and Their Patent Advisors
The Secretariat will update document SCP/20/9 (Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and their Patent Advisors: Compilation of Laws, Practices and other Information), and submit it to SCP/29. This update will also be reflected on the dedicated website “Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and Their Patent Advisors”. The Secretariat will invite Member States to send any additional inputs for the preparation of the updated document.
Transfer of Technology
Taking into account the discussions within the SCP, including those during the sharing sessions, the Secretariat will compile information on patent law provisions that contribute to effective transfer of technology, including sufficiency of disclosure.