IIPI Vice President Molly Torsen participates at Santa Clara Law School's Conference on IP Protection for Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Expressions
November 9, 2007
Santa Clara, California

Western intellectual property laws provide an imperfect fit for the protection and promotion of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) / expressions of folklore (EOF).  In Ms. Torsen's presentation, copyright law, as manifested by the Berne Convention, is compared with the various needs and wishes of Indigenous communities with regard to their TCEs.  Other IP laws are also examined, highlighting the manner in which some jurisdictions and communities are dealing with the TCE issue.  Geographical indications, certification marks, and even trademark laws can be applicable, as can domestic sui generis laws.  Australia is considering the implementation of an Indigenous communal moral right bill, which could also alleviate some of the strain between Western IP and the needs of Indigenous communities.  Other panelists' topics and an overview of the conference are available here.

Conference on Establishing a National Copyright Society and Strengthening the Copyright Industries
December 11-13, 2006
Gaborone International Conference Center
Gaborone, Botswana

Music and other forms of culture not only provide enjoyment and entertainment, but also can serve as the foundation of culture based industries.  However, such industries can only form if those who partake in them understand their intellectual property rights in the works they create and how to use these rights in a business setting.  This conference was designed to provide foundational training in intellectual property rights and business practices to local musicians and others involved in the cultural industries.  Additionally, IIPI released the report Implementing the Copyright Society Provisions of Botswana’s New Copyright Act during the conference. This report provides a roadmap for creating a national collecting society to the Batswana people.

Agenda and Conference Materials
IIPI Report: Implementing the Copyright Society Provisions of Botswana’s New Copyright Act
Press Release

Namibia Intellectual Property Conference - Supporting Culture Based Industries
November 15-17, 2006
Windhoek Country Club
Windhoek, Namibia

Handicrafts and art that are made by people with traditional materials, using traditional techniques, are a highly prized commodity in the international marketplace.  The marketplace, however, is flooded with counterfeit products that mislead consumers as to their origin and negatively impact traditional works both economically and ethically.  Individuals and communities who produce these goods may be missing a key component of their prospective financial success if they are not employing an appropriate menu of intellectual property laws and practices for their benefit.  This conference will address the intellectual property laws and issues that confront artists and small business owners who would like to produce and sell their traditional goods both locally and internationally.

Agenda, Speaker Biographies and Conference Materials
Press Release

Music Piracy Workshop
October 2-4, 2006
IIPI Headquarters
Washington DC

Pirated CDs and cassettes is a major problem in many developing countries.  While international artists must suffer lost sales, the pirated of music products is especially harmful to local artists struggling to make a living.   This "train the trainer" workshop focused on educating participants from Southern Africa on such things as identifying pirate CDs and the relevance of different policy options intended to combat the piracy of CDs and cassettes.  

Agenda and Workshop Materials
Press Release

MGM v. Grokster: A Critical Case for Digital Media in the 21st Century
Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus and House Caucus on Intellectual Property Event
March 10, 2005

The Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus and the House Caucus on Intellectual Property hosted a lunch roundtable discussion to publicize the MGM v. Grokster case, the first intellectual property case decided by the Supreme Court since Sony v. Betamax in 1984. This event brought together representatives of  a broad range of intellectual property based industries which will be affected by the ruling.

Program and Speaker Biographies
Press Release

West Africa and Intellectual Property: Policy Priorities to Foster Economic Growth, Public Health and Culture
December 6-8, 2004
Sofitel Teranga Dakar
Dakar, Senegal

Many West African countries do not have strong intellectual property regimes and are having difficulty in enforcing intellectual property rights. Combating piracy and counterfeiting is a major problem for these countries. Not only does piracy and counterfeiting drastically reduce the economic potential of local intellectual property-based industries, but it also can have serious public health and safety impacts, when for instance pharmaceutical products are counterfeited. This conference will bring together policymakers, legal professionals and the public health community to discuss the rule of law in intellectual property, intellectual property public health and safety, technology commercialization and the use of intellectual property to promote culture based industries.

Agenda
Press Release

World Intellectual Property Day
April 28, 2004
Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC

The International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) co-hosted a luncheon for Members of Congress and their staff on Wednesday, April 28, 2004, to mark World Intellectual Property Day. A series of international events, World Intellectual Property Day celebrates the significance of creativity and innovation in people's daily lives. The theme of this year's local event was "Protecting America's Creativity Around the World".

Speakers at the event included: Jon W. Dudas, Acting Undersecretary of Commerce and Acting Director of the USPTO; Nick Taylor, President of the Authors Guild, best-selling author who wrote Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-year Patent War; and Peter C. Schultz, Ph.D., the co-developer of the world's first practical glass optical fiber for communications and the co-inventor of the fiber optics now used worldwide for telecommunications.

Agenda, Speaker Biographies and Materials
Press Release

Jordan Intellectual Property Week - 2003
Amman, Jordan
August 11 - 14, 2003

In its inaugural year, Jordan Intellectual Property Week provided over 300 participants several workshops on a wide range of intellectual property issues.  The event was organized by the Jordanian Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and was kick-off by Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.  Among the topics discussed at Jordan IP Week 2003 include, IP Based Technology Strategies, Copyrights for Informational and Cultural Products, Technology Licensing Strategies at Universities, and Damages and Remedies in IP Cases.

Agenda and selected Biographies
Press Release
Jordan IP Week Website

Digital Commerce in Copyrighted Works: Where is the World Going?
Speech by Hon. Bruce Lehman
Berlin, Germany
September 2002

There is a lack of digital copyright protection leaving the world vulnerable to theft and abuse of digital material. There are three reasons for this; 1) our culture no longer respects the rights of the author, 2) there is always a way to circumvent technological locks and 3) there is no universal guidelines for the protection of digital copyrights.

Speech (PDF, 274KB)

Copyright, Culture and Development
Speech by Hon. Bruce Lehman
The Role of Intellectual Property and of WIPO in the Cultural Industries
Beijing, China
May 2002

“Today at the beginning of the twenty-first century, few any longer doubt the importance of the creative industries as a source of national wealth.” In countries around the world the creation and distribution of music, movies, and other ‘entertainment’ products has greatly benefited the economy. It therefore becomes necessary in developing countries to come up with ways to protect against piracy in order to protect industries and economies. It is also necessary for governments to encourage young people to learn instruments and to foster natural talent.

Speech (PDF, 264KB)

Culture and Industry as a Development Chance for Poland
Speech by Hon. Bruce Lehman
Warsaw, Poland
June 2001

“Today at the beginning of the twenty-first century, few any longer doubt the importance of the creative industries as a source of national wealth.” In the United States alone the motion picture industry contributes tens of billions of dollars to the economy, and it does so with no government intervention and little government funding. Therefore, it is necessary to allow industries within the creative industries to patent products which they create in an effort to encourage them to continue to add to the economy.

Speech (PDF, 182KB)

The New Cold War on American Culture - A Challenge for the Bush Administration
Article by Hon. Bruce Lehman
January 2001

As American movie and television industries continue to dominant world markets, countries like France and Canada will try to combat the popularity of America’s cultural products with anti-American rhetoric and attacks on American culture.

View Article (104 KB)

Report: Managing Museum Digital Assets: A Resource Guide for Museums
Spring 2001
Dr. Michael Shapiro

The promise of the digital age brings museums both opportunities and challenges. This document, as part of WIPO's Digital Agenda, contains model licenses, resource materials, notes and comments to assist the world museum community to better manage its portfolios of cultural and intellectual property assets.

Report (PDF, 684KB)

Report: Modernizing Jamaica's Intellectual Property System
Spring 2000
Bruce Lehman

At the request of the Government of Jamaica and with support from the World Intellectual Property Organization, IIPI prepared this report and recommendations. Several of the recommendations have been implemented, and in March of 2002 Bruce Lehman attended the official opening of the new Jamaican Intellectual Property Office (JIPO). This document also contains information about "the Nashville Model" that IIPI envisions as a source for high-impact, sustainable economic growth from the Jamaican music and culture industries.

Report (PDF, 1.1MB)