WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/517/Add.4 
17 October 2008 
 
 (08-4999) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
   
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
SWITZERLAND 
 
Addendum
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 14 October 2008, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Switzerland.  
_______________ 
  
 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 and IP/C/W/496 of  28 September 2007 in which much of the 
description of the aims and organizational aspects of technical cooperation remains relevant, this 
report describes the activities of the Swiss Federal In stitute of Intellectual Property (hereafter "the 
Institute") in the field of technical cooperati on between 1 September  2007 and 31 August  2008.
1 
Drafted along the same lines as the preceding repor ts, this document draws a distinction between 
multilateral and bilateral activities.  It should be reca lled that the concern of the Swiss authorities is to 
ensure optimum coordination of available resources, both at the multilateral and bilateral level, while 
avoiding duplication or overlapping of programmes. 
I. MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
A. TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 
ORGANIZATION (WIPO) 
(a) Annual basic training programme at WIPO 
1. From 18 June to 11 July 2008, two experts, one from Albania and one from Mongolia took 
part in a training course held at WIPO in Geneva an d at the Institute in Berne.  At WIPO, the experts 
attended the Interregional Seminar on Industrial Property from 18 to  20 June 2008.  The programme 
at the Institute (23 June to 11 July 2008) covered the entire field of intellectual property, focusing in 
particular on patents, trademar ks, industrial designs and copyright.  Emphasis was put on the 
                                                      
1 Unless otherwise indicated. IP/C/W/517/Add.4 
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  practical, administrative and organizational work.  As  in the past, the Swiss Agency for Development 
and Cooperation of the Federal Department (Minis try) of Foreign Affairs financed the entire 
programme.  Costs related to teaching and other gui dance for the two experts in Berne were covered 
by the Institute. 
(b) Participation of representatives of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property as 
speakers in workshops (co-)organized by WIPO 
2. At the request of WIPO, the Institute sent sp eakers to the following workshops and seminars: 
• A speaker from the Institute held a presentation at the Life Sciences Symposium on 
Intellectual Property (IP) and Bioethics at  WIPO in Geneva (4 September 2007). 
• A speaker from the Institute was invited to present the topic "Innovation systems in 
Switzerland" for officials from Barbados (28 November 2007). 
• A speaker from the Institute was invited to  present the topic "Intellectual Property 
Management" in the context of the WIPO Su mmer School.  The 46 pa rticipants were IP 
specialists from all over the world (23 July 2008). 
(c) Training visits of delegations from third countries to the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual Property 
• A delegation from China of seven representa tives from the Beijing IP Office and Court 
were informed about the activities of the Swi ss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property 
and Patent Law in Swit zerland (13 September 2007). 
 
• A delegation from Chinese Taipei visited the In stitute in order to discuss the Institute's 
supervision of the Swiss collecting societies (25 September 2007). 
 
• A delegation from China visited the Institute in  the context of their seminars at WIPO 
headquarters in Geneva.  Twelve heads of  regional intellectual property offices were 
informed about the IP protection and administration system in Switzerland 
(1 November 2007). 
 
• A delegation from Lebanon visited the Ins titute in the framework of EFTA-Lebanon 
technical cooperation.  Six customs and cons umer protection officials participated in 
the Seminar.  Speakers from the Institute pr esented the following topics:  'IP system 
and Enforcement in Switzerland', 'Ge ographical Indications' and 'Copyright' 
(15 November 2007). 
 
• A delegation from China was trained on intellectual property rights and their 
management with a special focus on patent rights (21 January 2008). 
 
• A delegation from China of eight represen tatives from the IP office and Industry from 
Hebei Province were informed about the ac tivities of the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual Property and Patent Law in Switzerland (24 January 2008).  
  IP/C/W/517/Add.4 
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  (d) Free-of-charge searches on the state of th e art for WIPO in favour of developing 
countries 
3. Between 1 September 2007 and 31  August 2008, the Institute conducted, upon request of 
WIPO, free-of-charge searches on the state of  the art for the following countries:  
Country Number of searches  
 
Chile   4 Colombia 3 India 1 Jordan 5 
Mexico 5 
Morocco 2 Singapore 1 South Africa 1 Syria 1 
Trinidad and Tobago 9 
Uruguay 2 Viet Nam 35 
    
Total
  69 searches  
 
 
B. TECHNICAL COOPERATION WITHIN OTHER INTERNATIONAL FORA  
• Participation of a speaker from the Institute at the South Centre's Fourth South 
Innovation Series Seminar "Making Patent Po licy Work for Development:  Lessons 
drawn from the Swiss Experience" in Geneva (24 October 2007). 
 
• Participation of a speaker from the Institute in a symposium on geographical 
indications in Chennai, India.  Jointly organized by the Indian Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trade Marks & Registrar of Geographical Indication and 
the Institute (11 December 2007). 
 
• The European Patent Office has been en trusted by the European Commission to 
implement a large project on the protection of intellectual property rights with the 
People's Republic of China (EU-China IPR2).  Switzerland being a member State of the 
European Patent Organisation, the Institute c ontributes expert advice to this project.  
 
II. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
1. Azerbaijan:  The 'Swiss-Azeri Project on IP Enfo rcement' successfully started this year and 
two project activities have already been implemented: 
• In May 2008, 16 IP-trainers from various Azeri institutions participated in a two-week 
training course in Switzerland.  The programme covered all areas of IP enforcement and took place at the Institute, the Swiss Customs Directorate, the World Trade 
Institute (WTI, Berne, Switzerland) and at WIPO. 
 
• A second cluster of the project consisted of an assessment of the national legal 
framework relating to IPR enforcement.  A research team from Baku State University IP/C/W/517/Add.4 
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  focused on the coherence of the national legislation while international experts 
examined the national legislation for pot ential inconsistencies with the TRIPS 
Agreement.  The preliminary findings were discussed at a conference that took place on 11-12 June 2008 in Baku.  The final reports of the experts have been forwarded to the 
Azeri government for consideration. 
 
2. Jamaica:  The Institute and the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office launched a cooperation 
project to establish a protection system for geographical indications in Jamaica (Mai 2008).  A first activity on awareness raising among the producers of  agricultural products was undertaken in August 
2008. 
3. Viet Nam:  After the conclusion of the 'Special Programme of Cooperation' based on the 
Agreement on the Protection of Intellectual Propert y and Co-operation in the Field of Intellectual 
Property between Switzerland and the Socialist Repub lic of Viet Nam, a second phase of the project 
was inaugurated on 16 July 2007.  Since then, several tasks were successfully implemented: 
• Several one- or two-day seminars reinfor ced the implementation of the new law on 
intellectual property of Viet Nam: Two se minars on the protection of pharmaceutical-
related inventions and test data, two semi nars on genetic resour ces and biodiversity, 
one workshop on traditional knowledge, three seminars on commercialization of IP and three seminars for university members on pa tent information were held.  The seminars 
were jointly conducted by Vietnamese and in ternational experts, the latter submitting 
reports, including recommendations for the relevant Vietnamese agencies. 
 
• An expert mission was conducted in order to provide the Vietnamese agencies and 
Government with useful information regard ing the establishment of a specialized IP 
Court. 
 
• An activity on IP valuation included an expe rt mandate and a four-day workshop for a 
broad range of stakeholders.  Recommenda tions were made on how to improve the 
valuation of IP in Vietnamese companies. 
 
• The project further supported specialized training courses in the area of geographical 
indications for two participants. 
 
• An expert mission resulted in a comprehe nsive report including recommendations for 
specific regulations on traditional knowle dge and traditional cultural expressions. 
 
• In the context of the World Intellectual Property Day (26 April 2008), four workshops 
were held at universities across the country.  They were attended by roughly 750 students and researchers who were instruct ed on how to use patent information 
efficiently. 
 
• Two training courses took place in Switzerla nd.  The first one, held in October 2007, 
was targeted to train 15 master trainers in th e field of intellectual property enforcement.  
In addition to basic training at the Institute , participants visited the customs office, a 
private law firm active in IP enforcement, as well as WIPO.  The second training course, held in March 2008, was on geogr aphical indications and targeted at 
professionals from the private and public sector. 
  IP/C/W/517/Add.4 
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  4. Brazil, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Georgia, In donesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Lao PDR, 
Morocco, Palestine, Slovakia, Tunisia: The Institu te, together with the Swiss Association for the 
Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas (AGRIDEA, Lausanne, Switzerland), the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the French  Development Agency and the Joint Research Unit 
Innovation and Development in Agriculture and th e Agrifood Sector (UMR-Innovation, Montpelier, 
France), co-organized an international training m odule on "Geographical Indications, A Way Forward 
for Local Development" in order to provide theo retical and practical training on the protection of 
geographical indications at the national and in ternational level (Montpellier, France, 12-23 May 
2008).  Participants came from a wide variety of countries, among which a fair number of developing 
countries which are referred to above. 
 
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