Developing countries form IPR lobby at UN’s WIPO

Eighteen developing countries have grouped together to ensure that their interests are properly reflected at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the United Nations' intellectual property body, their coordinator Egypt said on Monday.

The new group aims to transform WIPO from a body servicing mainly holders of intellectual property rights to a UN agency helping members achieve development goals through "a balanced and calibrated use of intellectual property", a statement from Geneva said.

The creation of the new group marks another step in the confrontation between rich and developing countries over intellectual property rights.

Rich countries like the United States believe strong intellectual property rights are needed to encourage inventions, new technology and improvements in quality, and that piracy and counterfeits destroy jobs and economies.

But many developing countries say such rights are abused to deprive poor people of access to essential medicines or to steal developing countries' traditional knowledge.

Egyptian ambassador Hisham Badr said WIPO's adoption of a Development Agenda in 2007 was a milestone in efforts to change the view of intellectual property from an end in itself to one serving broader social, economic and cultural goals. But implementing the agenda was proving a considerable challenge, he told WIPO's Committee on Development and Intellectual Property.