Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 9 • Number 3 • 20th February 2009

WIPO Chooses Green Innovation as Theme of World IP Day

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The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has announced that its annual World Intellectual Property Day will have a ‘green’ theme to promote environmental friendliness. This event, organised to bring awareness to Intellectual Property (IP), will be held on 26 April.

Every year WIPO and its member states recognise World Intellectual Property Day by hosting activities, events and promoting IP campaigns. These programmes aim to spark public interest and understanding of IP, particularly relating to music, arts, and entertainment and technical innovations.

Organisers say the main goal of the event is to raise demonstrate how patents, trademark copyrights and designs impact on daily life and to increase understanding of how defending IP rights can promote creativity and innovation. In addition, the occasion aims to encourage respect for IP, while commemorating the creativity and contribution made by creators and innovators to the growth of societies around the world.

The green innovation theme was chosen as a result of environmentally friendly processes being the ‘key to a secure future’, WIPO Assistant Director General Geoffrey Onyeama said in his letter announcing the initiative. WIPO says it is trying to continue its efforts of becoming ‘carbon-neutral’ by not sending out mass-mailings of promotional kids as in years past.

As an alternative, member states and observers are encouraged to download the material from the WIPO website which features a message from Director General Francis Gurry as well as various promotional items for World Intellectual Property Day. WIPO has given permission to all coordinators of events celebrating World Intellectual Property Day to use their promotional material or to expand upon the given material to create their own.

The April issue of WIPO Magazine will be a special issue concentrating on Climate Change and Green Innovation. This issue will be sent out to all WIPO member states, observers and subscribers and will be available for download on the WIPO website.

ICTSD Reporting.