WIPO urges Intellectual Property owners to share information on internet
Dr. Francis Gurry, Director-General of World intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has urged owners of intellectual property (IP) to store, manage and share information on the internet.
WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.
He said traditional knowledge or expressions of folklore have an economic value but that value has not been recognised so much until now.
Dr Gurry was speaking at a public lecture on the theme: “Creating Wealth through IP in Accra on Thursday.
He said there should be a concrete approach and measures developed to adopted to address the challenges of piracy in the IP system and added “it is piracy that is killing or destroying the Nigerian film industry, thus depriving the actors from their investment.”
The Director-General announced that plans are advanced to convey a conference to adopt a treaty to address the challenges of traditional IP.
“WIPO’s work in the area of Global Challenges aims to emphasize the positive relationship between innovation and IP and how the system can best be used for economic and social development,” he said.
Dr Gurry said developing countries had rich content but distribution and packaging becomes a problem, making access to the global market a challenge.
He said the organisation is developing the capacity of African countries to safeguard their IP rights, since it is necessary.
Ghana Joined the WIPO in June 1976 and continues to make important and positive contributions to the on-going process of exploring how further to improve different aspects of the IP system.
Mr Carlos Sakyi, Chairman of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation, told the GNA that more awareness creation should be done for the public on piracy and counterfeiting in the music and film industry.
He said the government should set up specialized courts and train judges to understand the contents of intellectual property to better inform their decisions and appealed to the authorities to enforce the law on piracy and counterfeiting to improve on the economic livelihood of artists.
Source: GNA