WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/77/Add.3
30September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4059)
Original: French Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM
DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS
SWITZERLAND
Addendum
ThepresentdocumentreproducestheupdatedinformationonSwitzerland'stechnicalandfinancial
cooperation activities relevant totheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement, which hasbeenreceived
fromthePermanent Mission ofSwitzerland bymeans ofacommunication, dated 18September 1997.IP/C/W/77/Add.3
Page2
TECHNICAL COOPERATION INTHE AREA OFINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Technical Assistance Provided bytheFederal Institute forIntellectual Property,
Federal Department ofJustice andPolice, Bern
Following documents IP/C/W/12/Add.3 of13September 1995 andIP/C/W/34/Add.2 of
17September 1996, inwhich much ofthedescription oftheaimsandorganizational aspects oftechnical
cooperation remains relevant, thisreport describes theactivities oftheFederal Institute forIntellectual
Property (theInstitute) inthefield oftechnical cooperation between 1September 1996 and
31August1997.Draftedalongthesamelinesastheprecedingreports,thisdocumentdrawsadistinction
betweenmultilateralactivitiesintheframeworkofWIPO,theWTOandtheEPO,andthepurelybilateral
activities. Itshould berecalled thattheconcern oftheSwiss authorities istoensure optimum
coordination ofavailable resources bothatthemultilateral andbilateral levels, avoiding duplication
oroverlapping ofprogrammes.
I. MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES
1. Technical cooperation intheframework oftheWorld Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
(a) Annual basic training programme atWIPO
From 28August to18October 1996, twoexperts, fromMadagascar andChad, wereableto
benefit, intheframework oftheannual training programme, fromatwo-month training course which
washeldinthree successive stages atWIPO, inStrasbourg andattheInstitute, andwhich covered
theentire fieldofintellectual property, focusing inparticular onpatents, trademarks andindustrial
designs. Asinthepast,theprogramme wasfinanced bytheDirectorate ofDevelopment Cooperation
oftheFederal Department ofForeign Affairs. Costs related toteaching andtosupport bytheexperts
inBernwere covered bytheInstitute.
From 3September to24October 1997 twoexperts, from Togo andNiger, willbereceiving
thesame kindoftraining.
(b) Information and/or training visits
Attherequest ofWIPO, theInstitute received delegations from thefollowing countries:
1. Slovenia: InOctober 1996, fourexperts from theDepartment ofTrademarks and
Industrial Designs spent threedaysattheInstitute attending courses andpresentations
onthose subjects. Thecourses andpapers covered Swiss law,bothsubstantive and
procedural, andSwitzerland 'sactivities intheframework oftheHague andMadrid
Unions, together withother aspects ofamore administrative andpractical nature.
2. Nepal: InNovember 1996, theDirector-General oftheDepartment ofIndustry and
theSecretary oftheMinistry ofIndustry ofNepal visited theInstitute, where theywere
abletoexchange views onpatents, designs, trademarks, copyrights andtechnical
cooperation.
3. Mongolia: InMarch 1997, theDirector-General oftheMongolian Intellectual Property
Office andoneofhiscolleagues visited theInstitute where theTrademarks, Patents,
Designs andCopyrights Divisions presented theiractivities.IP/C/W/77/Add.3
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4. Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gambia: InMarch 1997, theDirectors oftheIntellectual Property
Offices ofthese countries visited theInstitute inorder tofamiliarize themselves with
itsstructure andactivities.
5. China: InMarch 1997, adelegation ledbytheDirector-General oftheOffice ofthe
State Council Intellectual Property Working Conference andmade up,interalia,of
senior officials fromthePatent Office, theTrademarks Office, theMinistry ofForeign
Affairs, theDepartment ofScience, Education, Culture andPublic Health andfrom
theOffice incharge ofmatters relating toHong Kong-China andMacau, attended a
comprehensive one-day presentation oftheactivities oftheInstitute. Arepresentative
ofthe"Vorort" (Swiss Chamber ofCommerce andIndustry) alsodemonstrated the
importance ofintellectual property rights fortheeconomy.
6. China: InJune1997, aChinese delegation ledbytheDirector-General oftheNational
Copyright Administration ofChina andmade upofsenior officials fromtheIntellectual
PropertyCentre(ChineseAcademyofSocialSciences),fromtheOfficeofLegalAffairs
oftheState Council andfrom theShaanxi Copyright Office paidaone-day visitto
theInstitute. Theprogramme focused ontheprotection ofcopyrights andneighbouring
rights inSwitzerland.
2. Technical cooperation intheframework oftheWorld Trade Organization (WTO)
(a) Participation inseminars andcourses
InJanuary 1997, arepresentative oftheInstitute wasasked topresent apaper ontheroleof
intellectual property inSwitzerland before adelegation ofsenior officials from Vietnam ledbythe
Vice-Minister ofTrade. Thevisittookplace intheframework oftheprocess ofaccession ofVietnam
totheWTO.
InJune1997, thesame representative wasinvited bytheWTO toparticipate asalecturer in
aworkshop ontheTRIPS Agreement which brought together therepresentatives of17African countries.
Thepaper concerned theobligations arising from thatAgreement withrespect topatents.
(b) Free-of-charge searches inconnection withpatent applications filedbycitizens ofdeveloping
countries
Between July1996 andtheendofJune1997, theInstitute conducted free-of-charge searches
inconnection withpatent applications filedbycitizens ofthefollowing countries:
Country Number ofsearches conducted
Argentina 5
Chile 42
Ghana 6
Malaysia 1
Mexico 1
Nicaragua 3
Panama 1
Peru 1
Republic ofKorea 1
Senegal 1IP/C/W/77/Add.3
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These searches arecurrently financed through theInstitute 'sordinary budget.
3. Technical cooperation intheframework oftheEuropean Patent Organization (EPO)
Attherequest oftheEPO, theInstitute received agroup oftrainees forthree daysinthe
framework ofatraining programme ontheuseofCD-ROM technology inpatent information. The
experts came from thefollowing countries:
Argentina Indonesia Morocco
Brazil Jordan Peru
China Libya Singapore
Cuba Malawi Syria
Ghana Mexico Vietnam
Living andtravelling expenses werecovered bytheEPO. Theorganization oftheworking
sessions, andtheteaching andguidance oftheexperts inBernwere financed bytheInstitute.
II. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES
Latvia: Theproject ofpreparing aRussian-Latvian-English dictionary inthefieldofintellectual
property mentioned inourpreceding report hasnowmaterialized. Thedictionary, entitled "Intellectual
Property Protection", waspublished inRigaandhasbeenonsalesince July1997. Itspublication
wasfinanced entirely bytheSwiss Government.