Committee Meeting

The Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) agreed on March 27, at the close of its week-long meeting, on a range of work items that will continue to clarify and focus attention on key substantive issues relating to patent law and practice.

The Committee reaffirmed that the non-exhaustive list of issues identified at its June 2008 meeting would remain open for further elaboration and discussion at its next session, scheduled for November 9 to 13. It also decided to include two further issues in the list, namely "patents and the environment, with a particular attention to climate change and alternative sources of energy" and "patent quality management systems."

SCP members agreed that the four preliminary studies on standards and patents, exclusions from patentable subject matter and exceptions and limitations to the rights, the client-attorney privilege and dissemination of patent information which had been the subject of the discussions, would remain open for further comments at its next meeting. In summarizing the work of the Committee, the Chair said that the SCP agreed to ask the Secretariat to:

(a) commission external experts to prepare a study on exclusions, exceptions and limitations focused on, but not limited to, issues suggested by members, such as public health, education, research and experimentation and patentability of life forms, including from a public policy, socio-economic developmental perspective bearing in mind the level of economic development;

(b) prepare a concept paper on technical solutions to...

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