WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/539/Add.3 
21 October 2009 
 
 (09-5197) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
SWITZERLAND 
 
Addendum  
  
 The following communication, dated 8 October 2009, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Switzerland.  
 
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  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 and IP/C/W/517/Add.4 of 
17 October 2008 in which much of the description of  the aims and organizational aspects of technical 
cooperation remain relevant, this report describes the activities of the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual Property (hereafter "the Institute") in the field of technical cooperation between 
1 September  2008 and 31 August  2009
1.  Drafted along the same lines as the preceding reports, this 
document draws a distinction between multilateral and bilateral activities.  It is the concern of the 
Swiss authorities to ensure optimal coordination of  available resources, both at the multilateral and 
bilateral level, while avoiding dupli cation 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 10 June to 3 July 2009, two experts from Guinea took part in a training course held at 
WIPO in Geneva and at the Institute in Berne.   At WIPO, the experts attended the Interregional 
Seminar on Industrial Property from 10 to 12 June 2009.  The programme at the Institute (15 June to 
3 July 2009) covered the entire field of intellect ual property, focusing in particular on patents, 
trademarks, industrial designs and copyright.  Em phasis was put on the practical, administrative and 
organizational work.  The Institute covered the costs of the programme. 
                                                      
1 Unless otherwise indicated. IP/C/W/539/Add.3 
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(b) Participation of representatives of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property as 
speakers in workshops (co-)organized by WIPO 
2. A speaker from the Institute was invited to present the topic "Intellectual Property 
Management" in the context of the WIPO Summer Sc hool. Participants were IP specialists mainly 
from developing countries from all over the world (16 July 2009). 
(c) Training visits of delegations from third countries to the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual Property 
3. Participation of a speaker from the Institute at  the visit of a delegation of 20 representatives 
from Korea at the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology and presentation of the 
following topics: "Patent Law" and "P atent Management" (25 September 2008). 
4. A delegation of Belarus visited the Institute in  the context of a WIPO colloquium. A speaker 
from the Institute presented the topic "Activities a nd structure of the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual Property" (26 September 2008). 
•  A delegation from China visited the Institute in the context of their seminars at WIPO 
headquarters in Geneva.  11 heads of Intellectual Property Offices from China were 
informed about "The activities of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property 
and Patent Law in Switzerland" (4 December 2008). 
 
•  Participation of a speaker during a visit of a delegation of 5 representatives from the 
Egyptian Customs Authority at the Federal Customs Administration (28 April 2009). 
 
•  A delegation from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of 
the National People’s Congress of the People' s Republic of China visited the Institute 
in the framework of a study tour on Copy right Law organised by the European Patent 
Office (EPO) in the context of the EU-China IPR2 Project (see also below I/2).  Speakers from the Institute presented the follo wing topics:  "Introduction of the Swiss 
Federal Institute of Intellectual Property with a particular focus on Swiss-Chinese 
relations in the area of intellectual pr operty rights" and "An overview on recent 
developments in copyright protection in Swit zerland" (19 May 2009).  In addition, the 
delegation visited a collecting society, a law firm specialized in IPR, the High Court 
of the Canton of Berne and the Swiss Parliament. 
 
•  A delegation from the IP Office of Paragua y was informed about "The activities of 
the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectua l Property and Patent Law in Switzerland" 
(15 July 2009). 
 
•  A delegation from the IP Office of the Republic of Serbia was trained in the field of 
collective rights management at the In stitute (26 to 28 August 2009).  
  IP/C/W/539/Add.3 
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  (d) Free-of-charge searches on the state of th e art for WIPO in favour of developing 
countries  
5. Between 1 September 2008 and 31  August 2009, 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  
 
Argentina 2 Burundi 1 Chile 7 Colombia 5 
Cuba 1 
Jordan 7 Republic of Korea 2 Mexico 7 Morocco 1 
Nicaragua 2 
South Africa 11 Trinidad and Tobago 7 Uruguay 4 Viet Nam 38     Total
  95 searches  
 
(e) Technical cooperation within other international fora  
•  Participation of a speaker from the Ins titute in the "WTO Regional Workshop on 
Certain Topical Issues in Regard to Intellectual Property for Arab and Middle East Countries" in Muscat, Oman (2 to 4 February 2009).  
 
•  The European Patent Office (EPO) has b een entrusted by the European Commission 
to implement a project on the protection of intellectual property rights with the People's Republic of China (EU-China IPR2 ).  Switzerland being a Member of the 
European Patent Organization, the Institute c ontributes expert advice to this project.  
 II. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
 
1. Azerbaijan:  The ‘Swiss-Azeri Project on IP En forcement’ has entered its second year:  In 
November 2008, the Institute and the Swiss Cu stoms Directorate provided a 4-day course to 
30 participants from the State Customs Committee of  the Republic of Azerbaijan in Baku, focusing on 
practical experience relating to IPR enforcement at  the border and to combating counterfeiting and 
piracy more generally. 
2. Jamaica:  In May 2008, the Institute and th e Jamaica Intellectual Property Office launched a 
cooperation project to establish a protection system for geographical indications (GIs) in Jamaica.  
The following activities have so far been implemented:  
• Two monitoring missions by the Institute  to Jamaica took place to finalize the 
project’s implementation schedule; 
 
• Awareness raising among Jamaican producers of agricultural products; 
 IP/C/W/539/Add.3 
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  • Several seminars with nationa l and international experts took place in Jamaica, aimed 
at training producers, officials and the judiciary in basic knowledge on GIs (September 2008, January 2009, May 2009);  
 
• Three specific workshops were held to s upport selected producer groups in working 
on a code of practice for the use of GIs; 
 
• In March 2009, a two weeks seminar t ook place in Switzerland, where Jamaican 
participants had an intro ductory course on the principals of GIs as well as a 
comparative look at different GI protection systems in Switzerland and other countries.  
 
3. Kenya:  In February 2009, the Institute and the Kenyan Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) 
launched a cooperation project to establish a protectio n system for geographical indications in Kenya.  
The first project phase (January to August 2009) focu ssed on providing expert input to KIPI in order 
to draft a comprehensive national GI-legislati on and on supporting KIPI staff in establishing 
capacities in the area of GIs.  The following activities have been implemented so far: 
• In advance to the launch of the project, a GI  workshop for 20 stakeholders took place 
in Nairobi in October 2008; 
 
• Swiss GI experts conducted a legal revi ew and provided comments on the drafting 
process for a Kenyan bill on GIs; 
 
• With the support of the project, KIPI organized two two-day capacity-building 
training sessions for its staff and an information session on the draft GI legislation for the Parliamentary Committees (Trade, Invest ment, and Agriculture) and the Attorney 
General’s Office; 
 
• In May 2009, a one-day awareness raisi ng workshop for producers took place in 
Nairobi.  
 
4. Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:  Since 2007, a second phase of the Swiss-Vietnamese 
Intellectual Property Project (SVIP) has b een running.  Between 1 September 2008 and 
31 August 2009 several activities were successfully implemented: 
• Co-organization and support of the ASEAN IP-Day activities at the University of 
Agriculture in Hanoi with the goal to enhance awareness among students on the use 
and protection of intellectual property in or der to promote innovation and creativity;  
 
• Support of expanding the IP-day activities at selected universities outside Hanoi and 
Ho Chi Minh City:  One day workshops were held in Vinh (Nghe An Province), in 
Can Tho City and in Bon Ma Thuot (D ak Lak Province, Central Highlands); 
 
• Course on 'Enforcement' in Switzerland:  A group of 16 Vietnamese enforcement 
officials from the Department of Scien ce and Technology, the police, the customs 
administration and the Appeal Division of the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) attended a two week training course on IP enforcement in Switzerland; 
 
• Support to a seminar of COMCO/VINASTA S (SECO-funded competition project):  
On demand of COMCO, the SVIP funded the participation of an IP expert from NOIP  IP/C/W/539/Add.3 
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  for a presentation on unfair competition in a "project review" seminar in Dalat on 
23 February 2009; 
 
• Organization of a negotiation workshop for 16 experts from 9 to 11 April 2009 in 
Geneva, Switzerland.  
 
5. Participants from Algeria, Jordan, Lao PDR, Br azil, Argentina, Tunisia, Malaysia, Indonesia, 
Serbia and from Ukraine took part in an internatio nal training module supported by the Institute and 
entitled "Geographical Indications, A Way Forward for Local Development".  The goal of the training 
module was to provide participants with theore tical and practice knowledge on the protection of 
geographical indications at the national and inte rnational level (Bossey/GE, Switzerland, 4 to 
15 May 2009).  The training module was  organized by the Swiss Association for the Development of 
Agriculture and Rural Areas (AGRIDEA, Lausanne, Switzerland) in collaboration with the French 
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the French  Development Agency and the Joint Research Unit 
Innovation and Development in Ag riculture and the Agrifood Sect or (UMR-Innovation, Montpellier, 
France).  
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