WTO MOCK SUMMIT AND RESEARCH GROUP 2014

WTO MOCK SUMMIT AND RESEARCH GROUP

AND

FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO – NIGERIA

PROGRAMME OF WTO MOCK SUMMIT

NOVEMBER, 2014

GENEVA, 2014

TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (TRIPS) AND DEVELOPMENT OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

M.M. YUSIF

DIRECTOR OF THE MOCK SUMMIT

Introduction

WTO Mock Summit by the students of Bayero University, Kano is ten years in 2014. Therefore, this year we are going to celebrate the tenth anniversary of research, media practice, theatric display, workshop, debate, etc. on global trade politics under WTO regime.

In view of serious and calculated desire to spread the concept of WTO, the Group is in partnership with Faculty of Social and Management Sciences Students Association to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the practical translation and understanding of WTO actions.

From the year 2008, each Mock Round focused consultation and debate of trade ideas on a specific problem of international trade:-

1)    In the year 2008 the focus was on major trade Agreements Under WTO regime with a view to review them for fair trade.

2)    The 2009 Mock Round was on Agricultural Trade including various aspects of Group Interest and negotiations concerning Agreement on Agriculture.

3)    In 2010 was how the 2008 global financial crisis affected Doha negotiations.

4)    In 2011, was on General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

5)    In 2012, “Special and Differential Treatment” was treated and the solution and way out recommended.

6)    The 2013 performance treated the subject “Trade, Environment and Development”.

The subject of the summit of 2014 is carefully searched and measured to carry the importance of the tenth anniversary celebrations. So, this becomes “Trade-related Aspects of International Property Rights and Development of developing countries”.

The significance of this topic is that neo-liberal globalization has come with new challenges for intellectual property ownership as a result of increased private power, and corporate control of the economics of the developing countries.

The Concept and the Programme of Action

The idea of Intellectual Property Rights is long in the literature on development of human society. The origin of the idea in modern history could be found in the philosophical teaching of John Locke, Benthem and logically of Karl Mark.

However, progress in human society and the growth and expansion of private power has made the idea very obscure and highly technical discipline usually dealt with by experts, lawyers, companies, businessmen, etc.

The more development of capitalism, the more of private power, the need of people to protect their skills, expertise, know-how, ideas, etc. from piracy and abuse. The first effort to apply the concept into practice i.e. to protect intellectual property was in fifteenth century Greece and subsequently in Britain in the Seventeenth Century at the time of the boiling stage of the development of capitalism. In order to protect inventions and scientific ideas propelling capitalism foreward.

The development of the IPR has passed through different phases in history. From the beginning the concern was limited to the domain of national territories so as to protect and encourage local invention and innovative development.

Subsequently, with expansion of capitalism across the globe, also of industrialization and international trade, concern began to go beyond national interest. At one level is the formation of international organizations to regulate IPR and protection of Intellectual Property Rights.

One of the most important methods of IPR protection is the enactment and enforcement of international treaties. Secondly is to make domestic laws and regulations to complement the international treaties, in form of patent, copyright, trademark, etc. to protect inventions and innovations.

Existing international treaties include the Paris convention and the Berne convention. The first deals with protection of industrial property such as patents, trademarks, service marks, trade names, utility models, industrial designs and invention. The second provides reciprocal copyright protection in each of the signatory countries. It “establishes the principle of national treatment and provides for protection without formalities, independence of protection and certain minimum rights”.

Other Agreements before TRIPS focused on specific type of Intellectual Property such as:-

Þ   Patent co-operation Treaty:- Provides for a Unified standard for application of a Patent  Right internationally.

Þ   The Madrid Protocol:- Allows a trade mark owner to file a single application that could protect the mark in multiple countries, rather than do country by country.

Þ   Madrid Agreement:- To tell source of Goods.

Þ   Madrid Agreement:- Registration of Marks.

More are Hague Agreement (1925): Nice Agreement (1957); Lisbon Agreement (1958); International convention for the protection of New varieties of Plants (1961); Locarno Agreement (1968); Trade Mark Registration Treaty (1973); Budapest Treaty (1977); and Nairobi Treaty (1981).

The above protect patents protection of copyright and could also be seen in other International Agreements as the Rome Convention (1951); Geneva Convention (1971); Brussals Convention (1974); and Madrid Multilateral Convention (1979).

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS is widely considered the most relevant intellectual Property Treaty. The signing of the TRIPS Agreement raised the discussion on intellectual property to a different level. The fact that the Agreement came as a result of trade negotiations showed a new approach that was to be taken on matters related to intellectual property.

The reality of the new approach is that the TRIPS Agreement not only increased the level of obligations of all areas of intellectual property protection, but also linked it to other items on the international trade agenda. Furthermore, since it came as a result of Uruguay trade negotiations it is under WTO regime and is enforced by the WTO.

TRIPS Agreement has many provisions for protection of IP. Article 1 (1) Says “members must set minimum standards of protection”. But that 1 (2) provides that “Members are not prohibited from implementing in their law more extensive protection than is required by the TRIPS Agreement”.

The major elements of protection of IP are found in Part II of the Agreement. The Agreement “defines intellectual property as all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of section 1 through 7 …namely copyright and related rights, trade marks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, layout-design (topographies) of integrated circuits, and protection of undisclosed information (trade secrets)”.

Looking at the TRIPS Agreement closely, one could say that it laid down principles which harmonized and globalised strong and tight control of the IPR System which is not in favour of industrialization and generally of development of developing countries.

Indeed, the Agreement has wider implication for development of developing countries in a way of access to medicine, dissemination of technology, and management and ownership of biodiversity, etc.

Regarding the response of the developing countries, they do not accept this programme of undermining their economies. They did not have the chance of opposing it during the Uruguay Round, because the whole package of the trade negotiations came to them with pressure to give their support as is a big promise for them to develop.

At the Doha trade negotiation meeting the developing countries exploded and demanded for review of Uruguay Round Trade Pact. The Doha Declaration had proposed to address three issues concerning the intellectual property rights:

1)    TRIPS and Public Health;

2)    Extension of the protection of geographical indications to products other than wines and spirits; and

3)    The convention on Biodiversity.

However, a considerable progress had been made to address number one above, by amendment to TRIPS, incorporating a waiver to enable developing countries to issue compulsory licenses to obtain cheaper generic versions of patented medicines and also an additional 10 years, i.e. till 2016 to incorporate pharmaceutical patents. Nevertheless, this amendment hardly changes the power relation against Public Health in developing countries. As in Uruguay Round of negotiation, there is another agreement i.e. General Agreement of Trade in Services which directly threatened public health.

The WTO Mock Summit 2014 will explore deeper these and other issues related to the subject. When the Briefing paper comes out, the theoretical perspectives would be detailed. Meanwhile the following issues about IPR would be researched and reported as Commission Reports by the Chairmen. These are:-

1)       Overview of the TRIPS Agreement.

2)       Problems of Implementing TRIPS in developing countries.

3)       The impact of the International patent System on Developing Countries.

4)       Intellectual Property Rights Law and abuse of copyrights-related rights.

5)       Relationship between TRIPS Agreement and Biodiversity.

6)       TRIPS Agreement and Public Health: Access to medicine.

7)       TRIPS and development of Industry: A threat to industrialization.

8)       Intellectual Property Rights Regime before TRIPS.

9)       IPR Regime and the globalizing Economy.

10)  Threats to Intellectual freedom: A case of information Law in Nigeria.

11)  IPR and Economic development in developing countries.

12)  Nigeria: An assessment of National IPRs Policies.

These and other issues which may come from the participants would be the focus in the coming Briefing paper or In-house workshop to be addressed by the Group Resource Persons, as well as in the training that will precedes the mock summit.

The WTO Mock Summit debate of this year is to be on: Intellectual Property Law infringement in Nigeria: a dialogue on Copyright and the Universities.

As the stalemate of WTO continues, the 2014 mock summit is a Mini Minesterial conference – of a consultative form – organized by the WTO Secretariat. The chairman of the Summit is the chairman of the General Council of the World Trade Organization. It holds in Geneva. So, it is called Geneva 2014.

Members of General Council and Heads of Various Commissions and Panels of the Mock Summit

1)       Umar Ibrahim Babuga           -        Chairman

2)       Lawan AbdulMutalab            -        Director General

3)       Abdullahi Baaba                    -        Director Media Crew

4)       Isaac Johnson Wisdom          -        Director of Research

5)       Kabiru Achimugu                            -        Head of Commission

6)       Ahmad Awaisu Lamido                   -        Head of Commission

7)       Yahaya Muhammad Nura      -        Head of Commission

8)       Aisha Wodi                                      -        Head of Commission

9)       Murtala Hassan                      -        Head of Commission

10)  Tijjani Falalu                          -        Head of Commission

11)  Rabi’u Bala Tijjani                 -        Head of Commission

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12)  Someone from Dept. of Mass Communication

13)  Mujahid Abdullahi                 -        Head of Commission

Trade Delegates and Observers

1)          Ahmad Usman Sani

2)          Ahmad Lurwan Khalifa

3)          Johnson Isaac Wisdom

4)          Sunday John Dominic

5)          Salamatu Ibrahim Muhammad

6)          Hassan Seyid Ishola

7)          Simon Achin Aondongu

8)          Mohammed Musa Dahiru

9)          Zainuddeen Abdussalam

10)     Adamu Wudil Muhammad

11)     Zahra Mustapha

12)     Adamu Yusuf

13)     Muhammad Umar Faruk

14)     Levi Terfa

15)     Angela Bello

16)     Mubarak Jamiu Suleiman

17)     Liman Abdullahi Usman

18)     Nasidi Abdullahi

19)     Ameen Taofiq

20)     Shamsudeen Salisu

21)     Yakubu Haruna

22)     Hussaini Hussaini

23)     Jibril Ishaq Kishimi

Selection of Countries to Send Delegates

1)          United State of America

2)          European Union         

3)          Japan                          

4)          Canada

5)          India

6)          China

7)          South Africa

8)          Brazil

9)          Australia

10)     New Zealand

11)     Russia

12)     Cuba

13)     Venezuela

14)     Mexico

15)     Nigeria

16)     Kenya

17)     Ghana

18)     Zimbabwe

19)     Thailand

20)     South Korea

Observers

v UN

v IMF

v World Bank

Members of the Organizing Committee

1)     Umar Ibrahim Babuga               -   Chairman of the Summit and of the Org. Committee

2)     Lawal A. Abdulmuthalib           -   Director General and Secretary of Org. Committee

3)     Sunday John Dominic               -   Director of ICT of the Summit

4)     Abdullahi Baaba                                    -   Director of Media Crew

5)     Abdullahi Shehu                                    -   Director of Security (Military)

6)     Rabi’u Bala Tijjani                    -   Director of Security (Civil)

7)     Yakudima Muhammad              -   Director of Human Right

8)     Muawiyah Ibrahim                     -   Director of Fund Raising

9)     Johnson Isaac Wisdom              -   Director of Research

10)Nura Yahaya Muhammad         -   Director of WTO Summit Debate

11)Mohammed Musa Dahiru         -   Director Publicity

12)Ibrahim Isah                                -   Director Soccer Competition

13)Salamatu Ibrahim Muhammad

14)Mohammad Garaba Abu-Bakr

15)Murtala Hassan

16)Zubairu Ahmad Musa

17)Alhaji Aminu Aminu

18)Zahra Mustapha

19)Tijjani Falalu

20)Mujahid Abdullahi

21)Kabiru Achimugu

22)Adamu Yusif

23)Muhammad Umar Farouk

24)Ahmad Lirwan Khalifa

25)Simon Achin Aondongu

26)Zainidden Abdulsalam

27)Nalela Artimas

28)Ahmad Usman Sani

29)Hassan Seyid Ishola

30)Aisha Wodi

31)Ahmad Uwaisu Lamido

32)Sabdat Salami                             -           FOSSAMSA Representative

33)Abdullahi Umar Shanono         -           FOSSAMSA Representative

34)Haruna Yakubu                          -           FOSSAMSA Representative

35)Adamu Wudil Muhammad       -           FOSSAMSA Representative

36)Abdullahi Usman                       -           FOSSAMSA Representative

Terms of Reference

1)    To provide general logistic for successful WTO Mock Summit 2014.

2)    To publicize both within and outside the campus, the principles governing the work of WTO as well as the mission and vision of the Mock exercise.

3)    To mobilize financial resources for successful execution of the project.

4)    Any other thing which the Committee is assigned to do.

List of Committees, Chairman and their Members

a)    Fund Raising Committee

1)     Muawwiya Ibrahim                          -           Chairman

2)     Adamu Ahmed Wudil                      -           Member

3)     Farouk Hamisu Suleiman                -           Member

4)     Zainudeen Abdulsalam                   -           Member

5)     Murtala Hassan Mohammed          -           Member

6)     Sanusi Isah                                        -           Member

7)     Salamatu Ibrahim Mohammed       -           Member

8)     Shamsudeen Salisu                          -           Member

9)     Umar A. Musa                                   -           Member

10)Liman Abdullahi Usman                 -           Member

11)Nasid Abdullahi Usman                  -           Member

12)Abbas Abdulkadir                            -           Member

13)Dzekah Levi Terfa                           -           Member

14)Aisha Wodi                                       -           Member

15)Zahra Mustapha                               -           Member

b)    Human Right Committee

1)     Yakudima Mohammed                    -           Chairman

2)     Isiaq O. Alabi                                    -           Member

3)     Jibril Ishaq Kishimi                         -           Member

4)     Rufa’i Muhammad Rimin Gata      -           Member

5)     Abubakar Jamilu Salisu                  -           Member

6)     Yakubu Haruna                                -           Member

7)     Salisu Yusuf                                      -           Member

c)     Debating Committee

1)     Yahaya Mohammad Nura               -           Chairman

2)     Umar A. Babuga                               -           Member

3)     Lawal A. Abdulmuthalib                 -           Member

4)     Johnson Isaac Wisdom                    -           Member

5)     Ahmed Usman Sani                         -           Member

6)     Aisha Wodi                                       -           Member

d)    Event Planning Committee

1)     John Sunday Dominic                     -           Chairman

2)     Achin Simon Aondongu                  -           Member

3)     Artimas Nalela                                  -           Member

4)     Muhammed Zuwairat Alhassan     -           Member

5)     Sani Murtala Mohammed               -           Member

6)     Ahmad Awaisu Lamido                   -           Member

7)     Salami Sabdat                                   -           Member

WTO Mock Summit Debate

Topic:-        Intellectual Property Law Infringement: A Dialogue on Copyright Legal Principles and Universities in Nigeria

WTO Mock Summit Public Lecture

Topic:-        Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development of Nigeria

Resource Persons and the Research Group

1)          Hassan Hassan Suleiman      -        Department of Economics

2)          Dr. Aminu Aliyu                            -        Department of Economics

3)          Dr. Ibrahim Lawan               -        Department of Biological Sciences

4)          Malam Mainasara                 -        Department of Mass Communication

5)          Dr. Habib Nuuman               -        Department of Sociology

6)          Professor Kamilu Sani Fagge         -        Department of Political Science

7)          Dr. Saidu Dukawa                -        Deartment of Political Science

8)          Malam Saidu                         -        Department of Political Science

9)          Malam Ibrahim Mu’azzam    -        Department of Political Science

10)     Malam M. M. Yusif               -        Department of Political Science

M. M. Yusif

Director WTO Mock Summit and Research Group