Jordan celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day, April 26, by organizing different activities to raise awareness of intellectual property (IP) among the public and to stress the need for protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs).
“An effective intellectual property protection system ensures the promotion of creativity and innovation to sustain cultural, technological, and socio-economic development,” General Director of the National Library, Mr. Mamoun Talhouni, said.
Seminars and discussions on IP were organized in Jordan celebrating this occasion.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) website, several Arab countries commemorated this event by holding different activities.
The Ministry of Economy and Trade in Lebanon, in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Protection Office (IPPO), celebrated this day by launching a project to promote knowledge of intellectual property in around 100 schools, especially at the middle school level, throughout the country.
In Morocco, at the Faculty of Science, Mohammed V University, Rabat, a local organizing committee held several conferences and exhibitions on the theme, “Think, Imagine, Create.” Research work conducted in the Faculty’s laboratories having led to the granting of patents was also exhibited In Yemen, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism organized a national seminar on copyrights and related rights for the occasion.
In Bahrain, a national IP conference on April 9 and 10 was organized by the Directorate of Publications and Press in collaboration with the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and with WIPO. A workshop on April 26 on the legal aspects of intellectual property, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, took place as well.
In Egypt, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Cairo held, on its premises, an opening ceremony for its Controlling and Monitoring Department. The Academy will also reinforce communications between the Patent Office and industrial enterprises by means of a focal point for electronic exchanges.
Internationally, the National Intellectual Property Organization (NIPO) of India held a series of seminars from April 23-26 concerning the end of the transition period under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the entry into force of a new regime of intellectual property rights in India.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Patent Institute organized a conference in Istanbul on April 25, on the theme, “The Legal Aspect of the Patent and Actual Cases.”
The World Intellectual Property Day aims to raise awareness of the role of intellectual property in our daily lives, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and artists to the development of societies across the globe.
In 2000, WIPO member states decided to designate a World Intellectual Property Day. They chose April 26 as this was the date on which the Convention establishing WIPO originally entered into force in 1970. WIPO and its member states have celebrated World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 each year since its inception in 2001.