L'agenda de l'OMPI pour le développement : vers une réforme de la propriété intellectuelle ?

This paper aims at examining the contents and the range of an initiative undertaken by Brazil, Argentina and other developing countries in order to reform the international system of intellectual property. The attempts of developing countries to take into account their specific needs in the evolution of the rules of intellectual property go back to their accession to independence. These actions aim at obtaining more flexibilities in the development and the application of the rules of intellectual property, to facilitate the transfer of technologies from the North to the South as well as to ensure the access to information to their populations. The WIPO Development Agenda falls under the same logic. Indeed, in 2002, Brazil and Argentina submitted to the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) a plan of action for the installation of an Agenda for their development. Contrary to the preceding initiatives, this calendar aims at reforming the structure of the organization and at redirecting its ambitions and objectives towards the taking into account of the specific needs of developing countries. A striking fact of this action is the massive support brought to the countries of the South by the non-governmental organizations of public interest. At the conclusion of the examination of the proposals of the various States on the implementation of this Agenda, the General Assembly adopted forty five (45) recommendations in 2007 and created a Standing Committee in charge of their implementation. The five groups of recommendations relate to : Technical Assistance and Capacity Building (A), Norm-Setting, Flexibilities, Public Policy and Public Domain (B), Technology Transfer, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Access to Knowledge (C), Assessment, Evaluation and Impact Studies (D), Institutional Matters including Mandate and Governance (E). These recommendations turn around the same idea : to include the dimension of development in the operation of WIPO and in its activities of technical assistance and development of rules. They advocate the access to knowledge, namely through the technologies of communication and information, the use and safeguarding of the flexibilities envisaged by international conventions, and the safeguarding of the public domain.