Congressional Leaders Urge WIPO's Gurry To Include All Stakeholders on Libson Agreement Changes
All World Intellectual Property Organization members should have an equal voice in amending the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin, said a Thursday letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. The letter was sent by bipartisan leaders…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. “The Lisbon Agreement is a WIPO-administered treaty that allows parties to the agreement to simultaneously register Appellations of Origin with all parties to the agreement,” a separate joint release said. “The proposed changes would substantially expand the scope of the Lisbon Agreement to allow for registration of Geographical Indications (GI’s) and could threaten market access for many common products, such as feta cheese, around the world,” it said. “Given that only 28 of the 188 WIPO members are parties to the Lisbon Agreement, lawmakers in Congress are concerned that departing from WIPO’s longstanding practice to allow this limited group of WIPO Members to amend the Agreement could result in unwanted changes that would ultimately harm workers and businesses in the United States and around the world.” WIPO didn’t comment.