26 April: World Intellectual Property Day
Every year World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD) is being observed on 26 April to highlight importance of intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) in encouraging innovation and creativity.
2016 Theme: “Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined“.
- The theme seeks to explore the future of culture in the digital age in order to answer questions how we create it, how we access it, how we finance it related to it.
- It also highlights the importance of a balanced and flexible intellectual property system in order to ensure that those working in the creative sector and artists are properly paid for their work, so that they can keep creating.
To mark this day, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) organises different events and activities together with various government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), community groups and individuals.
Background
- The idea of declaring a particular day as a World Intellectual Property Day was mooted in October 1999 at the General Assembly of the WIPO.
- In 2000, WIPO officially designated 26 April as an annual World Intellectual Property Day. It was specifically chosen as the Convention Establishing WIPO first entered into force in 1970 on this date.
- Since then, World Intellectual Property aims to address the perceived gap between Intellectual Property as a business/legal concept and its relevance to people’s lives.
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Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016