- Every April 26, we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day to learn about the role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity.
- World intellectual property day was first seen in the year 2000. The event was established with the help of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).
- Following a statement made at the Assembly of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in September 1998, the Director-General of the National Algerian Institute for Industrial Property (INAPI) proposed on 7 April 1999 the institutionalisation of an international day for intellectual property.
- On 9 August 1999, the Chinese delegation to the WIPO proposed the adoption of the “World Intellectual Property Day”.In October 1999, the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) approved the idea of declaring a particular day as a World Intellectual Property Day.
- The reason behind celebrating world intellectual property day on 26 April is the convention establishing the WIPO on 14 July 1967 which finally came into force on 26 April 1970.
- The theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2021 is “Intellectual property and small businesses: Taking big ideas to market.”
- The principal objective of world intellectual property day is to spread awareness about the intellectual property rights of an individual to protect his or her hard-earned intellectual properties.
- This event has been criticized by several activists and scholars as one-sided propaganda in favour of traditional copyright, ignoring alternatives related to copyleft and the free culture movement.
