As I warned Copyfight readers last week, there are some deeply troubling things happening behind the scenes at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with regard to the Development Agenda. The very purpose of the historic talks that will happen in April is in danger of being undermined.

I'll have an update soon; in the meantime, I/P Updates points to an article that hints at the kind of scenario we may see: General Assembly Bypassed in Informal Talks on Patent Harmonisation. A telling passage (emphasis, mine):

Many developing countries -- most of which were not invited -- were heavily critical of the meeting. They noted that Brazil was the only country among the 14 proponents of a 'WIPO Development Agenda' invited to the event, suggesting that this may have been an attempt to make support for the development agenda appear to be an isolated point of view. The other Southern representatives in attendance were from countries that have been passive in WIPO debates on the development agenda, or from states that are already committed by bilateral or regional trade agreements to intellectual property standards that go beyond those required by the WTO, such as Chile and Morocco.