FILCOLS at the WIPO Asia-Pacific Regional Symposium on Capacity Building in the Field of Copyright and Related Rights

FILCOLS attended the WIPO Asia-Pacific Regional Symposium on Capacity Building in the Field of Copyright and Related Rights (CRR) held last April 24-25, 2012 at the Multi-purpose Hall, Ground Floor, Intellectual Property Center, McKinley Hill, BGC, Taguig City.


Welcome remarks were delivered by Atty. Ricardo Blancaflor, Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, Mr. Satoshi Tsuzuki, Deputy Director of the International Affairs Division, Japan Copyright Office (JCO), Agency for Cultural Affairs, Tokyo and Mrs. Gao Hang, Director, Copyright Development
Services Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva.


During the first day of the event, Mr. Scot Morris talked about the importance of the copyright regime, the need for capacity building programs to solve current problems in the region and the strategies and approaches for strengthening the copyright system in developing countries. From Sydney, Mr. Morris is the Director International of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).


Mr. Ang Kwee Tiang discussed the recent growth and the development of CRR in the region. He is the Regional Director for Asia and Pacific and Counsel of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC). He is from Singapore.


Atty. Carmen G. Peralta, the Director of Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) talked about the practices, experiences and challenges on capacity building of CRR in the Philippines.


Mrs. Hang, a national of China, presented the recent development of copyright in the international level, focusing on the main issues and progress of the Standing Committee on CRR.


Mr. Tsuzuki shared the experience of Japan through his lecture entitled Practices and Approaches in Providing Capacity Building Programs of CRR for Developing Countries.


On day two, reports about the recent developments, challenges and responses for capacity building in the field of CRR were delivered by representatives of the participating countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.


All of them are very active in awareness campaigns. Some shared their problems with reproduction rights organization, some still did not have RROs in their country. Some of them need modernization of their copyright office. Most of them expressed the need for technical assistance, more training on IP and CRR at the local and international level, national conferences and trainings especially for enforcers, and publications about copyright.


Then Mr. Manisekaran Amasi followed shortly. He explained the WIPO’s structured approaches for capacity building programs for developing countries. Mr. Amasi is a consultant of WIPO’s Copyright Development Services Division. He is from Malaysia.
Mr. Ang went onstage again to talk about the role of the government and private copyright institutions in enhancing the capacity building at the national level.


The afternoon ended with a roundtable discussion. The participants and the speakers talked about steps to take and actions to make. Mr. Amasi moderated this segment of the regional symposium.


This event was organized by WIPO in cooperation with IPOPHL with the assistance of JCO, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.