26 April - World IP Day

26 April - World IP Day

Background: In 2000, WIPO's member states designated April 26 – the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970 – as World IP Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP. Since then, World IP Day has offered a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to consider how IP contributes driving the innovation that helps shape our world.

Theme of Year 2016: “Digital Creativity: Culture reimagined”

Sunrise in Caracas, a writer awakens, inspired, and reaches for her tablet. Her idea lands with her collaborator in London, rehearsing in a West End theatre. Words, images, plot-lines and dialogue flash back and forth. A treatment for a new series – a global pandemic, drug cartels, high level corruption – hits the inbox of a Hollywood showrunner, who calls contacts in Dubai, Mumbai, Beijing and Berlin. Deals are cut, funds secured, distribution channels agreed. 

Shooting begins: Outside scenes in Ouarzazate, interiors in Brooklyn, special effects from Bangkok. A soundtrack is added: a sizzling gumbo of rhythms from Rio and horns from Lagos, with a topping of Prague strings. The theme tune goes viral as fans stream the show on screens of every size, in every corner of the globe...

 Films, TV, music, books, art, video-games –cultural works, in short– have long crossed borders. But the WiFi era is transforming how consumable culture is created, distributed and enjoyed in markets that are expanding far beyond national boundaries. Ever more accessible digital technologies have swept away physical constraints, placing a world of cross-cultural collaboration at the fingertips of every artist and creator, feeding the imagination in new ways. And with this blooming of digital creativity comes the boon to the digital consumer. We read, watch and listen to the works of countless creators across the world wherever, whenever and however we want.

Reimagining culture – how we create it, how we access it, and how we finance it – is not without challenges. And the challenge of a flexible, adaptive intellectual property system is to help ensure that the artists and creative industries in our digital universe can be properly paid for their work, so they can keep creating. So for World IP Day this year, we’re exploring some of the issues surrounding our cultural future. We’ll be talking to experts on creativity in the digital market, and to creators themselves, to find out where they think we’re heading. 

(Source: WIPO)

Earlier Themes:

Year 2015 – “Get up, stand up. For music.”

When Bob Marley and the Wailers laid down the opening track on Burnin’ in a Kingston recording studio some four decades ago, they likely had little idea how far their simple, straightforward tune would resonate, becoming an enduring international anthem for human rights.

Such is the power of music. Since the earliest rhythms emerged and evolved into this most universal of creative expressions, music has moved us. From Beijing opera to the Vienna Philharmonic, from Bamako blues to Chicago house, from raga to ra? to township to dubstep, music transcends borders and connects with some primal beat within all of us. Even when we are not listening, music is often playing over in our minds – a soundtrack to our thoughts.

The music we enjoy today comes from the inspiration and hard work of thousands of creative people around the world – singers and songwriters; musicians and publishers; producers, arrangers, engineers and many others. Its breadth and variety results from an unprecedented accessibility to musical genres and styles – all at the tap of a screen – that brings us new hybrid forms almost daily. And the technologies through which we access music change almost as quickly – as do the business models that support them. Downloading or streaming, purchase or subscription, direct sale from creator to consumer – all options are on the table.

What is the future of our relationship with music? How will it be created and disseminated? How will we listen to it? And how will we ensure that all those involved in bringing us this universal pleasure can make a living from their craft?

A person interested to explore some of the changes shaping the music industry today, and hear from those intimately involved in the business of making music about how they see the future. Whether the person tastes run to K-pop or hip hop or the late string quartets, join in the conversation. Get up, stand up. Stand up for your music. Join www.facebook.com/worldipday

World IP Day – Suggested Activities

World Intellectual Property Day is a great opportunity to get people interested in issues relating to intellectual property (IP). While WIPO promotes a general theme each year, it is up to us to decide how best to use the event to make a splash, or to meet our organization’s own public awareness raising goals.

What can we do?

The following are just a few examples of activities we could undertake, depending on the message(s) we want to convey and the audience(s) we want to reach:

1. Stage public performances on the World IP Day theme, with the performers delivering messages which encourage respect for creators and creativity.
2. Run essay competitions for people on themes relating to IP, innovation, piracy and counterfeiting, etc.
3. Mark IP Day in academics with invention competitions to solve common problems; poster or video competitions; or presentations by inventors, authors, musicians, etc on how IP affects them.
4. Run workshops with local businesses and chambers of commerce on how small- and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from using the IP system.
5. Involve the media. Work with local newspapers to publish editorials and articles on IP-related themes. Get in touch with radio and television stations to broadcast discussion programs about how to promote and protect creativity and innovation.
6. Hold seminars in universities to build awareness of IP and its benefits among students, faculty and researchers, or organize an online webinar.
7. Mount exhibitions at shopping malls, showing how consumers benefit from IP (for example, showcasing how trustworthy trademarks can ensure consumer confidence, or how pirated or counterfeit goods can cause problems for consumers).
8. Hold public debates on hot IP issues.
9. Involve science and art museums, with presentations explaining the link between the exhibitions, innovation and IP, or mount an exhibition presenting local traditional knowledge and its modern application.
10. Work with local inventors' associations or designers to announce invention or design awards.
11. Celebrate works of a notable inventor, artist, designer, entrepreneur, etc.
12. Run workshops to inform specific users or potential users of the IP rights system – artists, performers, photographers, musicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc. – of the rights provided by the IP system and the services available.
13. Create locally-focused IP Day publicity materials, such as posters, brochures, broadcast spots, targeted at specific audiences.
14. Have an "open doors" day in the local IP or copyright office.
15. Hang an IP Day banner at the IP or copyright office, or other buildings.
16. Create a website containing general information about IP, case studies, videos, IP Day activities, quizzes, voting, etc.
17. Promote your IP Day activities through social media using the #worldipday hash tag.
18. Find a spokesperson or create a spokes-character.
19. Produce interviews, videos, podcasts, etc. featuring artists, authors, and inventors talking about their work and how it relates to IP.
20. Release studies, statistical data, surveys, etc. about the impact of innovation, the damage of counterfeiting and piracy, attitudes towards innovation, etc.
21. Set up booths in the street, at airports, etc., informing the public about IP and the role it plays in their daily lives.
22. Distribute IP Day promotion materials (bookmarks, postcards, bags, mouse pads, etc.).
23. Organize a free IP consultation or Q&A session with local law firm or academic institution for people interested in learning about the best ways to protect their IP.
24. Prepare a networking event for IP professionals or an award ceremony for those playing an important role in IP.
25. Launch a social media campaign encouraging budding and established inventors/creators to, for example, share their experiences of the IP system or their hopes for the system’s future (via traditional blog posts, video blog entries, etc.).
26. Run a photo competition in line with the main theme in order to highlight creativity and the working of copyright in practice.

It is noted that some publicity materials available at WIPO website like Poster, Bookmark, Postcard, Pictogram.

(Source: WIPO)