Today is World Intellectual Property Day! The goal of this annual day is to raise public awareness about the role of intellectual property in daily life and to celebrate the contribution innovators and creators made to the development of societies across the world.  

"It is an opportunity to create greater understanding about the role of intellectual property as a balancing mechanism between the competing interests which surround innovation and cultural creation: the interests of the individual creator and those of society; the interests of the producer and those of the consumer; the interest in encouraging innovation and creation, and the interest in sharing the benefits that derive from them." according to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.

"We are dependent upon innovation to move forward. Without innovation we would remain in the same condition as a human species that we are in now." says Gurry. Innovations can only be valuable to society when they can be used and shared. However, the costs of innovation or invention can be enormous. "I believe we should look upon intellectual property as an empowering mechanism to address these challenges. But we have to get the balances right and that is why it is so important to talk about intellectual property." On this World Intellectual Property Day, he wants to encourage the discussion about intellectual property.

To illustrate the great impact innovations can have on our lives, the theme of this World Intellectual Property Day is visionary innovators. Francis Curry describes visionary innovators as people whose innovations have transformed our lives and sometimes even the way society operates. Also art has it's visionaries. "A visionary artist or a composer or a writer is able to show us a different way, a new way of looking at the world."

During this day, competitions, exhibitions and public discussions are organized to mark the day. 

Read more about WIPO and World Intellectual Property Day on FutureOfCopyright.com:

• World Intellectual Property Day
• WIPO to draft international treaty on the protection of audiovisual works
• WIPO releases recent IP statistics

Source: WIPO

By: Marjolein van der Heide