ABSTRACT
As the main international organisation formed to promote intellectual property (including copyright) policies globally, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has an important role to play in positioning the international copyright system towards better support for access to knowledge and human development. The 2007 WIPO Development Agenda introduced a development dimension into WIPO’s mandate. This paper argues that WIPO’s development mandate transcends promoting economic growth and includes supporting access to knowledge for human development. This is more so given WIPO’s position as a United Nations specialised agency which confers it with a responsibility to support UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) that include goals that support human development objectives like education and health.
This paper reviews WIPO’s work in the implementation of major clusters in the Development Agenda and concludes that for WIPO to effectively steer the copyright system towards promoting human development and meaningfully addressing global development issues, WIPO must do more than it currently does under its implementation projects for the Development Agenda. The paper, therefore, recommends six further steps that should be taken by WIPO to ensure that in its work programs and implementation of the Development Agenda, it directs the international copyright system towards greater support for the promotion of human development objectives through increased access to knowledge.
Majekolagbe, Faith, The International Copyright System and Development: The Role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (February 6, 2023).
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