Saturday April 26, 2008 marks the 7th annual World Intellectual Property Day, put on by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with events taking place all over the world. WIPO’s focus this year is on celebrating innovation and promoting respect for intellectual property.
World IP Day continues to grow in popularity, celebrated by governments, tech transfer and IP licensing offices, universities and companies from around the world. In Canada there are events taking place throughout next week, including a national “Basics of IP” webinar, trade shows, dinners, meetings and seminars. For a list of some of these events visit the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website.
Most people are aware of intellectual property (IP) – of copyright, patents, industrial designs and trademarks. But many still view these as business or legal concepts with little relevance to their own lives. To address this gap, WIPO’s Member States decided in 2000 to designate an annual World Intellectual Property Day. They chose April 26, the date on which the Convention establishing WIPO originally entered into force in 1970.
Each year, WIPO and its Member States celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with activities, events and campaigns. These seek to increase public understanding of what IP really means, and to demonstrate how the IP system fosters not only music, arts and entertainments, but also all the products and technological innovations that help to shape our world.
At Flintbox, we’re celebrating World IP Day by giving out free 6 month trial Pro Accounts from April 18-26, 2008. Just visit the Pro Account Sign Up Page and enter the code ipday08 to get your free Flintbox Pro Account.
