Wednesday 26th April 2006 is World Intellectual Property Day, an
annual event organised by the Geneva-based World Intellectual
Property Organisation (WIPO). As WIPO Director General Kamil Idris
explains, it is "an opportunity to encourage people to think about
the role played by intellectual property in everyday life, and
about its importance in stimulating and safeguarding innovation and
creativity."
The event has been running since 2001. The date was chosen
because is marks the anniversary of the entry into force of the
Convention establishing WIPO.
General Idris explains: "This year we celebrate the starting
point of all intellectual property, the seeds from which all
innovations and creative works grow – ideas." The slogan for this
year's event – expected to headline events in Belgium, France,
Belarus, the Czech Republic and Ethiopia – is "it all starts with
an idea".
But there appears to have been a shortage of ideas at the UK's
Patent Office.
According to its charter, the Patent Office is tasked with
helping to stimulate innovation and raise the international
competitiveness of British industry through intellectual property
rights. World Intellectual Property Day seems an ideal opportunity
to further these goals. However, when asked about what was planned
to mark the global event, a spokeswoman replied: "We were going to
do something; but now we're not."
No reason was given, although OUT-LAW was told that the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) would be making certain
announcements next Wednesday. The Patent Office is under the
auspices of the DTI. When asked, a DTI spokeswoman explained that
the DTI will be making announcements that day – but they will have
nothing to do with intellectual property.
Among the Republic of Korea's events, an essay competition is
running for children. Entries should be written after reading a
comic book called Copy and Paste: What's Wrong?, published
by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Latvia's Patent Office will
be opening an exhibition on the theme, Internationally
Registered Latvian Trademarks in 2005.
The US Patent and Trademark Office told OUT-LAW that it is not
doing anything this year "but hopefully next," it added.
However, a non-governmental organisation, the Institute for Policy
Innovation, is supporting the day with an event in Washington, DC
on What Developing Countries Can Do to Limit and Promote
Innovation.
The champion of World Intellectual Property Day is surely
Kyrgyzstan. The former Soviet republic's State Agency of
Intellectual Property has organised a plethora of events to mark
the day in collaboration with Government departments, IP
organisations, libraries, educational institutions, publishers,
companies and the media.
Kyrgyzstan's population of five million can attend seminars,
conferences, enter a competition to design the best poster
celebrating the day, watch a ceremonial destruction of counterfeit
DVDs, and even enter a World Intellectual Property Day tennis
tournament.
Editor's note: OUT-LAW is running a series of
intellectual property-related seminars throughout April on Open
Source Software. But that's just a coincidence. Truth be told, we
didn't know anything about World Intellectual Property Day when
planning these events.
To its credit, Own It, a service which offers
"free intellectual property advice for London’s
creative people" is running an event on Protecting and making
money from your IP in an international market next Wednesday
to mark World Intellectual Property Day.
