Intellectual Property Office (IPO) seeking stakeholder views on IP Supplement to UNCITRAL guide

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group is negotiating an IP supplement to the legislative Guide on Secured Transactions. The aim is to assist States in the development of modern secured transactions laws to promote the availability of low-cost secured credit. Details, including current texts, can be found on the UNCITRAL website .

The IPO would like to hear views from stakeholders on the principal outstanding issues, which we will feed into the next round of negotiations, beginning on 2 November 2009. We have set up a dedicated e-mail address (uncitral@ipo.gov.uk) for stakeholders to send their opinions and comments, we would like to have these no later than 29 October 2009.

A seminar on the IP Supplement was held on 14 October 2009 and attended by stakeholders from the IP and financial sectors: the main speaker was Spyridon Bazinas, Senior Legal Officer at the UNCITRAL Secretariat. The objective of the meeting was to inform stakeholders of the main principles of the IP Supplement and to seek views on the outstanding issues. Concerns raised by participants included the priority of rights owners over secured creditors, termination of licenses, continuous filing of security interests and the choice of law in cases of international transactions. Further details of the principal issues can be found on the IP finance website .

Date of release: 19 October 2009