Opening Statement by India on behalf of the Asia Pacific Group at the 36th session of SCT, delivered by Dr. Sumit Seth, First Secretary(Economic Affairs) on17 October 2016.

Mr. Chair,

India has the honor to deliver this Opening Statement on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group.

At the outset, Asia and the Pacific Group would like to express its confidence in your ability and skills to lead the discussions in this session of the SCT.We would also put on record our appreciation for the WIPO Secretariat for the preparation of this meeting.

Mr. Chair,

Asia-Pacific Region attaches great significance to intellectual property as an important catalyst to socio-economic and technological development. An equitable and just International IP Regime not just promotes innovation but at the same time is sensitive to the diverse developmental needs of the Member States. The work of this committee should not lose sight of this important concept and should work towards maintaining the equilibrium between the interests of the right holders and the larger public welfare.

Mr. Chair,

The focused work of the SCT is to find a common landing zone among the member states on the text of a possible Design Law Treaty. Like any other international instrument the implementation of DLT must be accompanied with enhanced capacity of member countries to carry out the obligations arising out of this new treaty. The proposed treaty should address the important issue of capacity building within the Intellectual Property Regimes of the Developing Countries and LDCs.

Our Group therefore favours the provision of technical assistance in the proposed Design Law Treaty through an Article in the main body so that technical assistance is suitably reflected as a specific provision in this Treaty. We hope to see a decision on this matter through consensus and to the satisfaction of all Member States.

Most of the members of Asia and the Pacific Group support the principle of disclosure of source that has an impact on the appearance of an industrial design. As sovereign Member States of WIPO, countries should have the flexibility to include as part of the design eligibility criteria, components that are deemed important to complete the formalities for protection of industrial designs within their jurisdiction.

The Group notes the decision taken at the recently concluded WIPO GA, that Member States will continue to consider in the 2017 General Assembly convening of a diplomatic conference for the adoption of a design law treaty to develop simplified standards for industrial design registration procedures to take place at the end of the first half of 2018.

Asia Pacific group is ready to engage constructively with other groups towards complete resolution of the outstanding issues, especially bridging of position gaps pertaining to Article 3(1)(a)(ix) and Article 22 of the draft treaty. Developing countries should have ample policy space to shape their industrial design protection systems in accordance with national interests as envisaged in the TRIPS Agreement.

Asia Pacific Group is open to discuss the joint proposal submitted by the US and Japan titled Industrial Designs and New Technologies: Similarities and Differences in the Protection of New Technological Designs, with a view to understand the new technological advancements in electronics and the consequent effect on development of industrial designs in the new age media such as social media, smartphone and tablet technology, including icon designs & graphical user interfaces (GUI). In regards to extension of Digital Access Service to the industrial design, Asia Pacific Group is of view that applicants can reduce their burdens of preparing for documents required for priority claims. Member of the Group will take part in the discussion in this agenda during the 36th session of SCT.

Mr. Chair

There is a need for international action to prevent the undue registration or use of country names as trademarks. Asia and the Pacific Group in general supports the proposal by the delegation of Jamaica for the development and future adoption of a Joint Recommendation by the SCT.

The Group is also supportive of the proposal made by the delegation of the United States of America to develop a survey on the existing national Geographical Indications regimes. The aforementioned survey will further enhance the understanding of the commonalities and differences in approaches to GI protection adopted by various member states.

Asia and the Pacific Group hopes to see progress towards consensus and an acceptable work on the issue of protection of country names and Geographical Indications.

Mr. Chair

The report provided by the Secretariat relating to trademarks and the domain name system provides very useful information about various services and procedures that are available to trademark owners to prevent bad-faith registration or use of domain names by using their trademarks. Asia and the Pacific group would request the Secretariat to continue to provide details about the specific tools and mechanisms deployed, if any, to facilitate affordable access and use of such services for users from the developing and least developed countries.

Mr. Chair,

Some Members of the Asia Pacific Group have a different national position on the issue of disclosure, for which they will make a specific national statement. I would request Mr. Chair to provide this opportunity to these members of our group. Our Group looks forward to constructive discussion and a productive result in the deliberations in this 36th session of the SCT.

With these words, I thank you once again for the opportunity.