WTO Public Forum 2024

Introduction

Every year since 2014, the Standing Committee on TRIPS attends, with one or more of its members, the WTO Public Forum in Geneva: the largest and most important symposium organized by the WTO to discuss the trends of the international trading system, open to all stakeholders of the worldwide economic, civil and political society.

In 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 the Standing Committee on TRIPS was also selected by the WTO Public Forum Organization to organize and moderate workings sessions or workshops on IP-related topics.

This year I have attended the WTO Public Forum as observer and reporter for my Standing Committee, and AIPPI Int. in general, from 10 September to 13 September.

The title of the symposium was “Re-globalization: Better Trade for a Better World.”

135 among working sessions and workshops have been organized in the frame of the 2024 WTO Public Forum; and almost 4.400 have been the attendees.

The main theme of the forum was the re-thinking of the globalization as the unique way for international trade to create an inclusive and sustainable environment as opposed to regionalism and even more so nationalism.

Thanks to e-commerce and digital interconnection, businesses of all sizes have technically the chance to access new markets, create new jobs and make a wider choice of products available to consumers on a global scale.

In this framework, artificial intelligence (a main topic in various sessions) can play a disruptive role in further facilitating the growth of various businesses, speeding up research and improving collective wellness.

The debate on artificial intelligence has inevitably involved IP issues: the development of this technology implies access to and use of a large amount of data including IP assets and there is therefore a need to balance the interest of IP assets’ owners with that of the collectivity for a fast development and dissemination of the technology.

This balance should be achieved through a quick implementation of uniform rules on a global scale.

Summary of meetings

In one of these meetings, entitled “AI for Trade: Maximizing Benefits, Minimizing Risks,” organized by the University of Lucerne, the focus was on the potential of the use of artificial intelligence in international trade. In this regard, Jamie Berryhill, Analyst at the OECD AI Policy Observatory, noted that artificial intelligence is itself a driver of international trade as the exchange of goods, services and related data between countries is indeed necessary for the development of such technology. Mr. Berryhill then stressed the need for a quick adoption of uniform rules governing the sector.

Among the speakers was then Philip Sieber-Gasser, founder and CEO of BESSO, a startup that has developed an AI system dedicated to mapping regulations governing trade in different countries around the world. This is an example of how AI can facilitate the work of small and medium-sized enterprises which, thanks to this tool, can operate in the global environment without having to bear unaffordable costs for human legal consultancy in each individual country. On the other hand, Fola Adeleke, Executive Director of Global Center on AI Governance, warned about the risk that the development of artificial intelligence could increase inequality among countries. This is because AI is a technology with impressive potential but that requires huge investments in research and technological infrastructure to operate. There is therefore a risk that countries which are unable to bear these costs will be left even further behind than developed countries. In order to mitigate such risks Mr. Adeleke hypothesized compulsory licenses of IP assets (meant as data to train systems, source codes of software etc.). On the other hand, someone in the audience objected that compulsory licenses or automatic technology transfers may limit the incentive for companies to invest in creative production and research.

Another session, “Navigating New Norms: AI Regulation and Digital Trade” organized by the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), focused specifically on the regulation of artificial intelligence. It was pointed out that regulatory frameworks are still weak and rather fragmented across the countries whereas the rapid adoption of AI in trade requires robust and uniform regulatory frameworks to address various legal issues (e.g. data privacy, product safety, security, intellectual property rights, and ethical issues). The need to involve emerging markets in shaping regulation was also stressed.

In terms of regulation, however, it is necessary to consider what emerged from another meeting (titled “Behind the Headlines: Trade Realities in a Re-globalizing World” organized by the International Chamber of Commerce), where the need to measure the introduction of new laws and, in any case, to favor the adoption of soft rules was stressed. Indeed, according to various data, the proliferation of new and fragmented regulations between countries (like, for example, environmental regulations) is already affecting the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to compete globally, as they are unable to bear the costs to mapping and complying with so many different regulations.

In this scenario, the regulation of AI through an extension of the scope of the TRIPs agreement may be an option as well as the adoption of a new international agreement specifically dedicated to AI and based on the same “minimum standards” model as the TRIPS.