WIPO Member States Celebrate World Intellectual Property Day

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

27 April 2007

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation on Thursday celebrated World Intellectual Property Day.

In his message to mark the seventh World IP Day, Dr Kamil Idris, WIPO Director General, stressed the importance of encouraging creativity.

Dr Idris released the following message:

"Each year on April 26, governments and organizations around the world join WIPO in celebrating World Intellectual Property Day. Our theme this year is encouraging creativity."

"For many people, the connection between intellectual property and creativity is far from obvious. The word creativity conjures a world of artists and music makers, of poets and problem solvers, whereas intellectual property all too often summons images of gray-suited lawyers, locked in litigation. But look more closely, and it quickly becomes clear that it is the intellectual property system itself which sustains and nourishes those creators."

According to WIPO, Australia celebrated the Day with a series of events and activities across the nation to highlight the influence of intellectual property on everyday life. This included:

• Public seminars across Australia focusing on intellectual property education and celebration of the day itself (visit www.worldipday.gov.au for further details of the events);
• AWorld IP Day web page, including World IP Day event information;
• An online chat to discuss innovation, protection and commercialisation; and
• Promotion of World IP Day and intellectual property in various publications, TV shows and websites.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), meanwhile, in collaboration with the Canada Business Network, organised events including:

• Distribution for publication of articles on awareness of intellectual property to community and daily newspapers across Canada with a potential readership of two million;
• The provision of an IP Day website giving quick access to fact sheets, brochures, poster and web button, articles and forum, and a link to additional partners and sources;
• A commemorative celebration in the lobby of CIPO headquarters to thank its employees and partners; and
• Promotion of the Day and the encouragement of its celebration amongst partners and networks throughout the country.

In honour of World Intellectual Property Day, China organised:

• The destruction of large numbers of pirated and otherwise illegal products throughout the country, in order to discourage piracy and counterfeiting;
• Coordinated events in 31 provinces and regions, such as Beijing, Guangdong, Tianjin and Guangxi;
• A Summit Forum on China's IPR protection through 2007, in Beijing, for the benefit of senior officials and scholars in the field of IP, including representatives of international organizations (April 24);
• The fourth IPR Protection Publicity Week, to raise awareness of the need for IPRs (the week running up to April 26);
• Events organized by the cooperation of 18 ministries, including a forum on IPR protection in the information industry and seminars with Chinese and foreign participants; and
• An IPR protection essay contest, an online survey on IPR protection to solicit public opinion and a quizz between staff at centres which report and handle complaints about infringements.

Events in the United Kingdom to mark the day were organised by several bodies, including Anti Copying in Design (ACID), Bournemouth University's Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM), the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO).

Events also took place at several universities throughout the United States.

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