Historic G-20 World IP Court Announcement Expected

Michael Geist, Duncan Bucknell and Warwick Rothnie are reporting on a G20 agreement on a World Intellectual Property Court under the aegis of WIPO, the website of which is modestly silent on the remarkable development. The story was apparently first reported by the redoubtable IPKat at 120:01 today, GMT. It appears to have been confirmed by the normally reliable and well informed IP-Watch site at1:07 AM in an article by William Mew.

Reports are that:

G20 insiders have indicated that the proposed court is to be overseen by a panel of influential and internationally respected jurists in the field of intellectual property, of whom Senor Ignacio P. Gato has been touted as a possible candidate. Prof. Dr. Dr. jur. Wilhelm Neu is also among the contenders, as the Eastern jurist Dun Kan Buc Nel.

Sadly, despite this historic achievement, there are reports of the inevitable jostling for position amongst the Americans, Brits, French, Germans, Chinese and even WIPO itself as to where the Court should be located or who should be the presiding chair. At this late hour, I am unable to confirm speculation that Canada has offered the facilities of its Copyright Board, where the well equipped hearing room is presumably available for prolonged periods of time, according to the the Board's schedule.

Actually, I suspect that the first chair of this tribunal is likely to be Prof. Felix Tuft, shown presiding on a particularly complex case here, and who is a renowned expert on various pertinent treaties.

HK

April 1, 2009.