ABSTRACT
In 2000, the establishment of the Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) had been in recognition by all Member States of the need for a forum such as the IGC to address the linkages between intellectual property (IP) and GRs, TK and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). However, the IGC's story is one of diverging expectations among countries as to its precise purposes and goals. These differences have never been truly resolved, and they lie at the heart of the tensions that have marked the IGC's work since its establishment. The 'task-based' methodology was helping to structure the IGC's expansive work programme, but it may also have complicated the discussions. It was only later in 2009 that the mandate was dramatically re-set, in what would be a momentous turning point in the IGC's evolution. As the IGC was not making significant progress on substance, the new methodological tool, the inter-sessional working groups (IWGs), was keenly awaited.
