Global Third Way: Intellectual Property Rights at the Forefront of the UN MDG 8, Developing Partnership for Development

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
November 15-17, 2006

Co-Sponsored by: UCLA Anderson School of Management
Partnered with:World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

For 3 days, college students and young professionals from around the world were iIntroduced to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 8. By way of interactive participation in workshops, speaker series, panels, and small group discussions, participants will had the opportunity to learn from and exchange ideas with not only their peers, but with the leaders and professionals directly promoting and experiencing the effects of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

On the third day the participants engaged in panel discussions themselves, culminating with a summary resolution that will be forwarded directly to the UN Permanent Missions.

UN Millennium Development Goal 8

• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory
• Address the least developed countries’ special needs
• Address the special needs for landlocked and small island developing States
• Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term
• In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth
• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies – especially information and communications technologies

The program focused on the existing implementation strategies and the past accomplishments. The participants analyzed the weaknesses and the strengths of the MDGs.

The program focued on IP right. The following IP sub-themes were analyzed:

Promotion

• Creativity
• Fair Competition

Protection

• Industry Designs
• Copyright
• Patents
• Trademarks
• Inventions

Effects

• Small business growth in the developing world
• Individual ingenuity