Symposium on Role of Intellectual Property in Development

The World Bank Legal Vice Presidency will be hosting a Symposium on "The Role of Intellectual Property in Development" on Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 12:30 to 4:15 pm at its headquarters in Washington, DC.  The Symposium is being coordinated by Ms. Akiko Ogawa, a former Visiting Scholar to Chief Judge Rader, in the Vice Presidency of the World Bank.

The Symposium, which has been organized in collaboration with the Legal Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Economic Policy and Debt Department of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM) and the World Bank Science and Technology Innovation Global Expert Team (STI GET), will focus on the current debate about the role of intellectual property in development.  The goal is to address key issues on how to employ intellectual property in investment and decision making processes to develop legal frameworks that promote economic growth.  The speakers will address the following questions:

• What is the effect of strong IP laws on the rate of innovation and economic growth?

• Does a shift to stronger intellectual property rights promote foreign direct investment and technology transfer into developing countries?

• Does strong IP protection favor northern economies over southern economies or alternatively is it a means to ultimately level the playing field?

• Do national measures that require the involuntary transfer or withdrawal of IP rights achieve the long-term developmental goals of developing countries?

• Should the World Bank factor intellectual property into its investment and decision making processes to incentivize legal frameworks that promote economic growth, and if so, how?

• How can public agencies acknowledge and reward private initiatives that use know how or intellectual property to address needs for which there is an insufficient commercial market?

The agenda for the Symposium is as follows:

• 12:30-12:40 -- Welcome Remarks -- Hassane Cisse, Deputy General Counsel, Knowledge and Research, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank

• 12:40-1:00 -- Introduction (Moderator) -- Sherry M. Knowles, Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies, Former Chief Patent Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline

• 1:00-1:30 -- Can Innovation help the Developing World Achieve Economic Goals?  Collaboration between US and Developing Countries -- David J. Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office

• 1:30-2:30 -- Economic Perspectives on Effect of IP on Developing Countries -- Dr. Carlos Braga, Director of Economic Policy and Debt, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, World Bank; Dr. Lee Branstetter, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

• 2:30-2:45 -- Coffee Break

• 2:45-3:45 -- Case studies: Effect of National IP Frameworks on Development and Commercialization -- McLean Sibanda, Group Executive for Commercialization, Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa; Carl Horton, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, General Electric

• 3:45-4:15 -- Closing Remarks: Judicial Observations on Development of IP Regimes in Developing Countries -- Hon. Chief Judge Rader, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

• 4:30-5:30 -- Reception

The Symposium will have as the primary audience the World Bank Group staff, but will also have limited availability for external attendees.  Anyone interested in attending the event should contact Ms. Ogawa, World Bank Legal Vice Presidency Unit at [email protected] with their contact information (name, organization, email, telephone) by Monday, December 6, 2010.  Registrations will be confirmed by Thursday December 9.

Comments

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Preview of the speakers remarks:

We don't have a clue as to the effect of strong IP laws on the rate of innovation and economic growth but we are keepers of the faith and thus we encourage you to take a leap of faith.

We also don't have a clue as to whether a shift to stronger intellectual property rights promotes foreign direct investment and technology transfer into developing countries, but again, we encourage you to take a leap of faith.

We believe that strong IP protection favors northern economies over southern economies (see civil war) and it is not alternatively a means to ultimately level the playing field, but since we live in the northern economy we encourage you to adopt strong IP protection.

We believe national measures that require the involuntary transfer or withdrawal of IP rights achieve the long-term developmental goals of developing countries but are strongly against it because we're getting rich bi tch.

We believe that the World Bank should not factor intellectual property into its investment and decision making processes to incentivize legal frameworks that promote economic growth, but we encourage them to anyway because, again, we're getting rich bi tch.

We believe public agencies can acknowledge and reward private initiatives that use know how or intellectual property to address needs for which there is an insufficient commercial market with the delivery of womans and dollas (and maybe a lil somethin' somethin' if you have any).

Peace out yo!