 The Assemblies of Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization opened their annual session on Monday, October 1st, 2012 with a message from Director General Francis Gurry about the increased importance of intellectual property in the innovation ecosystem. Intellectual property is an indispensable part of a successful innovation ecosystem. It captures the economic value of innovation and it provides a secure framework for the difficult and long and complex journey of an idea through to market commercialization. The Director General said the determining position of intellectual property as a driver of innovation and competitive advantage, as evidenced by the growing number of patent wars in courts around the world, underlines the need for a rules-based international system aligned with today's economic and technological realities. Now, since innovation is becoming one of the most, if not the most important means of establishing competitive advantage, and since intellectual property captures the economic value of innovation, it's hardly surprising that intellectual property is becoming the battleground for competition. And I believe that that is what we are witnessing with the patent wars in the smartphone industry and more generally in the information and communications technology industry. Both areas where investment in innovation has been considerable and where it's been innovation that has enabled market leadership to be established. I believe that these developments that I've mentioned are all game changers. Geographically, economically, and strategically, the position of intellectual property has changed fundamentally over the course of the last 20 years. And if we continue to use reference points from a different game that was played in a former era, I think we run the risk of no longer being able to follow the play. During the course of the WIPO assemblies, member states will take stock of the organization's work over the past year and consider accelerating negotiations in a number of substantive areas which can contribute to reducing legal battles that are focused on IP. In the first place, I think the position of intellectual property as the battleground for increasingly intense competition reinforces the need for a rules-based international system. Rules should provide an even playing field and they should save us from the temptation to lapse into technological protectionism or mechanicalism. We have a number of items on our normative agenda that are approaching maturity. And it's hoped that these 2012 assemblies will be able to establish a clear map forward for each of these items. Mr. Gury noted the constructive spirit which led to the recent adoption of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances in June 2012 and expressed hope this would carry over in other ongoing negotiations. In particular, he urged member states to endorse the proposed roadmap for a new international instrument on improving access to published works for visually impaired and print disabled. He also called for the conclusion of a new treaty on design law formalities and encouraged member states to work towards a positive outcome in discussions on an international instrument on IP and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. In the evening, delegates attended a performance of classical and folk Indian dance by the Ankara School of Dance, which was co-organized by Waipo and India's permanent mission to the United Nations engineer.