World Celebrates Intellectual Property Day

GENEVA - “Encouraging creativity - rewarding the creative, innovative talents on which our world and our future are built – these are the ends which Intellectual Property serves.  This is what makes World Intellectual Property Day a cause for celebration,” said Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, in his message to mark the seventh World IP Day.

According to a press release by the Organization, countries around the world and members of WIPO commemorated this day by organizing IP seminars, workshops, lectures and awareness campaigns.

In Kuwait, the Committee for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of the Kuwait Bar Association published and distributed posters and brochures in key public venues on April 25. The Committee also organized an awards ceremony for national inventors and innovators and for young short story writers on May 1, under the auspices of the Kuwaiti Office for the Protection of Inventors, Ministry of Education.

The Pakistan Industrial and Intellectual Property Rights Association (PIPRA), in collaboration with the governmental Intellectual Property Organization (IPO), celebrated the day with a seminar on this year's theme of encouraging creativity. Stakeholders in IP, including those involved in business and industry, as well as staff of the IPO and IP lawyers, participated in this event.

In Sudan, the national television channel broadcasted, on April 24, a program about the nature of IP which included explanations of the different kinds of IP, international aspects of registration systems and the importance of IP. The program was intended for students, inventors and industry.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in collaboration with WIPO, launched an anti-piracy campaign from April 20-26, aiming at raising awareness of the negative impact of piracy and the importance of strengthening IP protection.

WIPO member states decided, in 2000, to designate an annual World Intellectual Property Day to raise awareness of the role of IP in peoples’ daily lives, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and artists to the development of societies across the globe. April 26 was chosen as this was the date on which the Convention establishing WIPO entered into force in 1970.