Believers in free trade may fret over
the collapse on Tuesday of the World Trade Organization's latest round of talks, named for Doha, capital of Qatar, where they began in 2001. But for those who were paying attention, the blow was cushioned by a June event in an even more obscure capital: the visit of the chief of the World Intellectual Property Organization to Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, to mark
the fifteenth anniversary of the opening of the Kyrgyz State Patent Service.
What gets patented in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic with a population of 5 million, a currency called the som, a GDP of around $10 billion, little oil and a whole lot of agriculture? And why does it matter?
On the first question, you might be surprised. Check out the patents, copyrights and other forms of IP protection detailed on the English-language Web site of
Kyrgyzpatent.
As for why it matters -- well, that's probably more obvious, at least to people who do cross-border corporate development work. Though few of them are teeing up deals in Kyrgyzstan at the moment, most are keenly aware of the need to safeguard IP in the developing economies where their companies are investing.
Kyrgyzstan is a tiny example of a country that wants to attract foreign investment and has hastened to try and play by developed-country rules. The founding of Its patent office, presumably with help from WIPO, a United Nations agency, came as it got ready to join the WTO in 1998.
Agreeing on rules with rising powerhouses like China and India (whether on IP or on the agricultural issues that stymied the Doha talks) is obviously a more complicated exercise than working with Kyrgyzstan. Building a framework for global prosperity is a laborious, frustrating and politically charged process, filled with setbacks like the one we saw on Tuesday. But even in Bishkek, it's a project that already has considerable effort invested in it. And it seems highly likely to continue.
So, two bits of advice. If you see a bedraggled trade negotiator or somebody from WIPO on your travels, give him or her an encouraging word. And if you need
an IP lawyer in the Kyrgyz Republic, you have at least 11 to choose from in Bishkek, starting with Aliev Izrail Kubatbekovich on Toktogul Street. If you need one in Osh, though, you may be out of luck. -
Kenneth Klee
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