WIPO Judicial Institute
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The WIPO Judicial Institute was established in 2019 to coordinate and lead WIPO’s work with national and regional judiciaries. This work includes convening international meetings between judges, implementing judicial capacity building activities, producing resources and publications for use by judges, and administering the WIPO Lex database that provides free public access to intellectual property (IP) laws, treaties and judicial decisions from around the world. WIPO has also established an Advisory Board of Judges, currently comprising 12 members who serve in their capacity.[1]
National and regional courts are tasked with protecting and enforcing IP rights under the applicable national law. As expressed by Professor Reto M. Hilty, “without effective enforcement, intellectual property rights are nothing but empty shells”.[2] The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) includes a recognition that enforcement of IP rights should contribute to the promotion of innovation in a manner that is conducive to social and economic welfare.[3] Intellectual property presents challenges for judicial adjudication, both because of its technical complexity but also its significant societal implications, as shown in the continuing growth in IP filings worldwide and the developments described by Professor Jacques de Werra as a “perceivable trend towards specialisation or centralisation of certain types of IP disputes.”[4][5][6][7]
International judicial dialogue
The institute's international meetings for judges bring together hundreds of judges from all continents to discuss questions and issues that commonly arise in adjudication of intellectual property disputes. These meetings are open to members of national and regional judiciaries, as well as quasi-judicial bodies that handle intellectual property disputes, such as Boards of Appeal in IP Offices in some jurisdictions. The purpose of the meetings is to enable exchange of information and experiences, to be informed about the approaches of different countries while recognizing the differences between national legal and judicial systems.
The institute's flagship event is the annual WIPO IP Judges Forum, which takes place in November each year. In 2020, the Forum was attended by roughly 400 judges from 89 national and regional courts.[8][9] Also in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of WIPO Webinars for Judges was established.
The benefits of an open approach to transnational judicial dialogue have been described by jurists and scholars.[10][11][12][13][14] Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme Court has observed that, although courts apply their laws, the experiences of other countries’ courts may “cast an empirical light on the consequences of different solutions to a common legal problem.”[15] More recently, President Zhou Qiang of the Supreme People's Court of China has advocated the strengthening of international judicial exchanges and cooperation in the realm of IP law.[16]