WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
IP/C/W/582/Add.4 
25 October 2012  
 
(12-5819) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
  
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
SWITZERLAND 
 
Addendum 
  
 The following communication, dated 16 October 2012, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Switzerland.  
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1. Following documents IP/C/W/12/Add.3 of 13 September 1995, IP/C/W/34/Add.2 of 
17 September 1996, IP/C/W/77/Add.3 of 30 Se ptember 1997, IP/C/W/109/Add.1 of 4 September 
1998, IP/C/W/154/Add.2 of 8 October 1999,  IP/C/W/203/Add.1 of 13 September 2000, 
IP/C/W/306/Add.3 of 18 September 2001, IP/C/W/3 77/Add.9 of 24 January 2003, IP/C/W/408/Add.4 
of 14 November 2003, IP/C/W/426/Add.2 of 8 Se ptember 2004, IP/C/W/455 of 5 October 2005, 
IP/C/W/476 of 14 September 2006, IP/C/W/496 of 28 September 2007, IP/C/W/514/Add.4 of 
17 October 2008, IP/C/W/536/Add.3 of 20 Octobe r 2009, IP/C/W/550/Add.2 of 20 October 2010, and 
IP/C/W/560/Add.5 of 14 October 2011, in which much of the description of the aims and organisational aspects of technical cooperation remain s relevant, this report describes the activities of 
the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (h ereafter "the Institute") in the field of technical 
cooperation between 1 Septembe r  2011 and 31 August  2012
1.  Drafted along the same lines as the 
preceding reports, this document draws a distinction be tween multilateral and bilateral activities.  It is 
the objective of the Swiss authorities to ensure optim al coordination of available resources, both at the 
multilateral and bilateral level, while avoiding  duplication or overlapping of programmes. 
 
I. MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES - TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN THE 
FRAMEWORK OF THE WORLD INTELLE CTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION 
(WIPO) 
A. PARTICIPATION OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF INTELLECTUAL 
PROPERTY AS SPEAKERS IN WORKSHOPS (CO-)ORGANISED BY WIPO 
 An expert from the Institute conducted a 100 hours Distance Learning Training "Advanced 
course on patent information search" at the WIPO Academy (between 15 November 2011 – 
15 January 2012). 
 
                                                      
1 Unless otherwise indicated. IP/C/W/582/Add.4 
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   An expert from the Institute lectured at the WIPO Summer School on the topic "IP as a 
business asset/IP valuation, a practical approach" (July 2012). 
B. F
REE-OF-CHARGE SEARCHES FOR WIPO  IN FAVOUR OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES  
2. Since 1987, the Institute has participated in  the "WIPO Patent Information Services for 
Developing Countries (WPIS)" which WIPO set up a nd operates for handling individual requests for 
patent information (state-of-the-art  search reports).  Additionally, since 1 January 2011, the Institute 
has also participated in the "International Coope ration on Examination (ICE)" part of WPIS.  The 
Institute thus not only establishes "state-of-the-art search reports", but also "search and examination 
reports".  These types of reports are established to  facilitate national patent applications in the 
beneficiary countries.  The programme supports the national patent offices in building up their 
competencies in search and examination procedures and helps to strengthen the patent system and 
legal certainty worldwide. 
3. Between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012, the Institute conducted, at the request of 
WIPO, free-of-charge searches for the following countries and organisations: 
 
 Country Number of 
searches 
 
ICE-Searches:   
Bahrain 4 
Jordan 12 
Kenya 4 
South Africa 2 
Syria 1 
Trinidad and Tobago 2 
  
WPIS-Searches: 
  
Bangladesh 2 
Mexico 1 
Nepal 2 
Trinidad and Tobago 1 
Zambia 2 
WIPO Medicines Patent 
Pool 8 
  
Total 41 searches 
 
II. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
(a) Bangladesh:  The Bangladeshi-Swiss Intellectual Property Project (BSIP) is about to be 
formally launched.  The first activity within the planned project has already taken place:  
The BSIP funded and organised the participation of 5 Bangladeshi IP officials from the 
Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry, the Department of Patents, Design and Trademarks, and the Copyright Office in th e IP Summer Programme 2012 jointly organised  IP/C/W/582/Add.4 
 Page 3 
 
 
  by the World Trade Institute (WTI, Bern/Swit zerland) and the Chinese University Hong Kong 
(CUHK). This course brings together governme nt representatives, scholars and practitioners 
from all over the world to deepen their knowledge  of the law and economics of international 
IP protection.  The course was complemented with modules particularly designed to address the needs and specific questions of partic ipants from developing and least-developed 
countries (July 2012). 
(b) China:  Delegations from Beijing, Hubei, Sh anghai and Zhejiang were welcomed at the 
Institute and introduced to the Swiss intellectua l property system.  Additionally, a workshop 
providing an introduction to the Swiss copyright system took place in October 2011.  
(c) Colombia:  Following a request from the Colombian IP office, a project planning mission to 
Bogota was conducted in June 2012. The objec tive was to identify concrete objectives and 
activities which could be supported under a tec hnical cooperation project. The related project 
proposal is currently under development.  
(d) Ghana:  The cooperation project "Strengthening  the Intellectual Property Rights in Ghana" 
was started in 2009.  During the reporting in terval, the following activities were undertaken: 
 A workshop on "Access and Use of Patent Information" was conducted in Accra 
(October, 2011). 
 
 In the context of the formulation of the Na tional IP Policy and Strategy, three working 
sessions for the members of the IP Committee took place in Accra (December 2011, January and May 2012). 
 
 The Institute reviewed the draft of the Nati onal IP Policy and Strategy (April, 2012). 
 
 A two-day stakeholder discussion on the Nationa l IP Policy and Strategy took place in 
Accra (May 2012).  More than 50 participants provided comments and input on the Draft IP Policy presented by the IP Policy Comm ittee. Participants included government 
officials, representatives of the universities and technical and research institutes from 
Accra und Kumasi, IP lawyers, and judges. The comments of the stakeholders were 
integrated into the draft. The final text  was submitted to the competent ministry 
(June 2012).  
 
 An evaluation study on training needs was conducted among the judges of the 
Commercial and the Supreme Courts (March-April 2012).  
 
 An IP Training Programme and training materi als for Ghanaian judges were prepared by 
a Ghanaian expert and reviewed by a cons ultant of the Institute (May-August 2012). 
 
(e) Indonesia: The Indonesian-Swiss Intellectual Property Project (ISIP) started early 2012. 
Besides the general project inception process, the following activities have been undertaken 
so far: 
 In the context of the celebration of the World IP day in April 2012, a speaker of the 
Institute participated both in a one-day semi nar on "IP Assets as Collateral and Venture 
Capital" (approx. 100 participants), and in a two-day workshop for Indonesian IP 
stakeholders on the topic of "Valuation of IP" (20 participants); both events were 
organised and funded by the ISIP (April 2012). 
 IP/C/W/582/Add.4 
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   The ISIP funded and organised the participati on of three Indonesian IP officials in the 
WTI/CUHK IP Summer Programme 2012 (for more information on the IP Summer Programme, see above II/1) (July 2012).  
 
(f) Serbia:  The Swiss-Serbian cooperation project  "Technical Assistance in the Field of 
Intellectual Property Rights (Geographical Indi cations and TRIPS Compliance)" was started 
at the end of 2009.  During the reporting peri od, the following activities were implemented:  
 Three days of training for the Serbian certification companies were conducted in 
Belgrade on several topics, such as the future  establishment of a certification system for 
products with a geographical indication (GI) from Serbia, including production control 
(September and November 2011, and April 2012). 
 
 A one-week training was held for the assesso rs of the governmental accreditation body 
with a specific focus on assessing certification bodies for accreditation of GI products (May 2012). 
 
 A one-week study tour in Switzerland was or ganised for the representatives of Serbian 
accreditation and certification bodies, with the objective of providing the Serbian 
participants with practical examples of  how to establish the GI control system 
(November 2011). 
 
 Around 20 workshops were organised for the Se rbian producers of registered or potential 
GI products in the different regions of Serb ia, in order to support the Serbian producers 
in the process of registration, certification, definition of quality sta ndards, and marketing 
of their products (September 2011 – August 2012). 
 
 The administrative guidelines for implementa tion of the current Serbian GI Law and 
Regulations were drafted by an expert fro m the Institute, in collaboration with the 
Serbian IP Office and the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture. 
 
 Two public events on GI promotion were co-f unded, namely the "Supernatural Festival" 
in collaboration with "Slow Food" and a GI promotion conference in collaboration with 
USAID (April 2011).  
 
III. WTO-ACCESSION COUNTRIES:  
(a) Lao PDR:  In January 2011, the Institute st arted implementing the Swiss-Lao Intellectual 
Property Project (LIPP).  The overall objective of this project is to contribute to the strengthening of Lao PDR's IPR system towards compliance with the WTO-TRIPS 
Agreement, in order to improve the country's access to international markets.  During the 
reporting interval, the following activities were undertaken: 
 A one-week study visit of 5 high level Lao policy makers to Viet Nam was organised. 
The purpose of this activity was to foster the basic understanding of these policy makers 
about the socio-economic benefits of IPRs  in order to obtain political support for 
complementing and implementing the Laotian IPR framework (May 2012). 
 
 The participation of 3 Lao IP officials a nd 3 Vietnamese IP officials engaged in the 
project in the WTI/CUHK IP Summer Programme 2012 was funded (for more information on the IP Summer Programme, see above II/1). (July 2012). 
  IP/C/W/582/Add.4 
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   A one-week study visit to Viet Nam of 5 Lao IP officials with management functions 
(technical level) was supported/funded.  The purpose of this activity was to share 
experience with Viet Nam on the IP legisla tion and the IP legal framework as well as the 
accession to international treaties (August 2012). 
 
(b) Tadzhikistan:  An expert from the Institute pa rticipated in a two-day workshop in Dushanbe 
on the TRIPS Agreement for Tajik government officials.  The expert introduced these 
officials to the basic content of the WTO-TR IPS Agreement and discussed the task of its 
national implementation.  Furthermore, this workshop aimed at facilitating discussion among the participating Tajik government officials with regard to their capacity-building needs in the 
framework of a potential cooperation project in  the field of IPRs between Switzerland and 
Tadzhikistan (19-20 June, 2012).  
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