World Intellectual Property Day in the Gulf

On 26 April 1970 the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization came into force. The anniversary of that event is celebrated throughout the world as World Intellectual Property Day. A different theme is selected for the event each year. This year it is "The Movies - A Global Passion."

The WIPO enters details of the celebrations on a special Facebook page. So far the WIPO appears to be aware of three events in the GCC region:

• The Third Saudi Forum for Intellectual Property at King Abulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia which will address issues of existing Saudi laws and enforcement;
• Also in Saudi Arabia, a series of lectures on IP by Dr. Mohamed Gasim Ibrahim and Dr. Fawaz Ahmed Saad of Umm Al-Qura University; and
• In DubaI a course on patent valuation offered by The Licensing Executives Society – Arab Countries in cooperation with Business Development Academy.

Should any other events in the region to mark World Intellectual Property Day appear on the WIPO Facebook page between now and Saturday I shall mention them here.

None of those events relates to film which may be explained by the fact that film making and distribution in the GCC countries is quite small. According to Wikepedia there are no cinemas at all in Saudi Arabia though films are seen in that country on television, over the internet and on DVD and at least one Saudi film has been made though it was shot abroad and the lead female actor was Jordanian (see Cinema of Saudi Arabia). Kuwait seems to be the only state in the region with a highly developed film industry and local cinemas (see cinema of Kuwait) and the industry is growing in the United Arab Emirates (see Cinema of the UAE). Initiatives like the incentives offered by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission upon which I reported in 

Abu Dhabi: An Offer to Film Makers that will be hard to refuse 31 May 2012 should certainly help.

World Intellectual Property Day falls on a Saturday this year so it is difficult to mark the day. Over the next few weeks or so I shall be writing about copyright and rights in performances, the intellectual property rights that protect film makers, distributors and actors, as my contribution to the day. In the meantime, as the greeting "Happy World Intellectual Property Day" is something of a mouthful I wish all my readers around the world a good weekend (whether they celebrate it on Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday). I hope they take in some of their local events to mark World IP day and that at the very least that they get to see a good movie or some other show.

Intellectual Property and its Role in Economic Development, Kuwait 30-31 March 2014

On the 30 and 31 March 2014 a conference and exhibition on Intellectual Property and its Role in Economic Development at the Kuwait Marriott. The event was organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait in collaboration with the University and the Gulf Co-operation Council.

The event's objective was

"to activate the community partnership between the official bodies concerned with intellectual property and private sector business represented by the owners of the trademarks authorized in the local market and regional and international experts concerned with the implementation of IPRs laws highlighting the importance of providing adequate protection to the production and services companies, as well as safeguarding human health, safety and environment from the damages resulting from trading in counterfeited goods and their impacts on countries' economies."

The organizers set out to achieve those objectives by

• promoting avenues for activating the role of the intellectual property in economic development;
• encouraging and motivating inventors and individuals with creative thoughts;
• highlighting the official efforts exerted by the State of Kuwait in enacting IP regulatory laws and legislations and implementation thereof;
• highlighting the damages caused by counterfeited trade marks and raising consumers' awareness of such damages;
• exchanging expertise and experiences of the GCC States, the other Arab countries and international organizations.

Four topics were discussed:

• counterfeit trade marks, their damage to the national economy and how to combat and control them;
• the economic and industrial importance of patents;
• Kuwait's national IP legislation; and
• the role of chambers of commerce and other private sector organizations in suppressing counterfeiting.

Speakers included the Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce and Industry, the GCC Secretary General, the Assistant Undersecretary for International Trade and Intellectual Property Affairs in Kuwait, the Dean of the Law Faculty of Kuwait University and the Chair of the Intellectual Property Training Centre.