Important Axes on Intellectual Property Rights at Global Conference held in South Africa
29 Mar 2003AMMAN - Johannesburg, South Africa, is hosting the meetings of the Regional Forum on Intellectual Property for the Africa and Middle East Regions, which is being organized March 30 – April 4, 2003, by the European Patents Office (EPO), the UK Patents Office, and the African Regional Center for Technology in collaboration with the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP), Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP), and the National Institute for Industrial Property in Portugal. The National Institute for Industrial Property in France and the German Patent Office are also helping organize the event.
The forum is being held under the title “The Role of the Industrial Property System in Strengthening the Ties between Europe and Africa and Addressing the Economies of Developing Nations”. Experts in intellectual property (IP), creativity and innovations from both Arab and international organizations alike, will be participating in the meetings.
The forum includes important axes focusing on intellectual property rights and their role in economic development. Numerous topics will be covered such as the pharmaceutical industry, transfer of special technology in this industry from industrial to developing states and biotechnology research.
There is another important axis which is the cooperation between Europe represented by the European Patent Office and developing nations in modifying IP-related laws.
During the forum, a workshop will be held by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on IP rights and creativity. The workshop will deal with the experiences of the African content in general and that of South Africa in particular in this regard, in addition to addressing the experiences of the Arab nations and Europe as well.
ASIP will present two working papers. The first is entitled “The Effect of the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement) on Arab Industries”. The other is entitled “The Future of Creativity in the Arab World”. ASIP will be represented by Mr. Mustafa Nasser Eddin.
In a statement on these meetings, the ASIP representative said that they will be useful for advancing IP laws in Arab and developing countries in a fashion that is consistent with consecutive global developments in this field, and in particular developments related to the new global trade system and the conventions of the World Trade Organization.
He said that the idea of a unified Arab patents office –along the lines of the European Patent Office- will be discussed, an idea which was previously presented by ASIP Chairman Talal Abu-Ghazaleh.
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