Intellectual property rights law to protect UAE folklore
The UAE could benefit from its folklore and tradition being protected by intellectual property rights legislation, according to an expert from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
WIPO Arab Bureau counsellor Samer Al Tarawneh was speaking on the sidelines of the Fourth Global Congress for Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy held at Madinat Jumeirah conference centre in Dubai. The congress concluded yesterday.
Tarawneh said there was strong concern within the Arab world and WIPO for the protection of its tradition and folklore, but it was also a matter which required considerable discussion and ground work.
“Only a few have come forward and have provisions within their legislation. Oman, Tunisia and Yemen. The UAE is interested but nothing is reflected within their legislature yet,” Tarawneh said.
The various countries involved had a difficult task in discerning what traditional knowledge was distinctly their own and what was shared between countries.
“Member states should try to identify their folklore and traditional knowledge before they establish what they’d like to protect,” he said.
The identification of the countries’ unique folklore, including music and dance, was a field nearing finalisation. “The big debate is when it comes to traditional knowledge of pharmaceuticals,” he said.
Tarawneh said throughout the world difficulties arose in ensuring pharmaceutical companies paid due credit to any knowledge of local methods or plants.
Tarawneh stressed IPR legislation could not only protect traditional knowledge but could be hugely beneficial to the economy such that local knowledge could generate profits.
He used the example that a company could cash in on its trademark and in the same way, good IPR legislation could achieve the same for folklore and tradition. Although the UAE doesn’t have legislation as yet, he said the government was leading the way in advancing Intellectual Property Rights which had been recognised by the world congress being held in Dubai and outside Europe for the first time.
Tarawneh said WIPO had conducted many meetings and training seminars in the UAE and several residents had been trained to become IPR Arab experts.
Additionally Dubai Customs had established a unit specifically for dealing with IPR, the first such unit within the Middle East, and was complementing a similar team within the Ministry of Economy.
In the first half of this year a seminar would be conducted for judges and prosecutors.
“The UAE is working hard towards this,” Tarawneh concluded. Source
WIPO Arab Bureau counsellor Samer Al Tarawneh was speaking on the sidelines of the Fourth Global Congress for Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy held at Madinat Jumeirah conference centre in Dubai. The congress concluded yesterday.
Tarawneh said there was strong concern within the Arab world and WIPO for the protection of its tradition and folklore, but it was also a matter which required considerable discussion and ground work.
“Only a few have come forward and have provisions within their legislation. Oman, Tunisia and Yemen. The UAE is interested but nothing is reflected within their legislature yet,” Tarawneh said.
The various countries involved had a difficult task in discerning what traditional knowledge was distinctly their own and what was shared between countries.
“Member states should try to identify their folklore and traditional knowledge before they establish what they’d like to protect,” he said.
The identification of the countries’ unique folklore, including music and dance, was a field nearing finalisation. “The big debate is when it comes to traditional knowledge of pharmaceuticals,” he said.
Tarawneh said throughout the world difficulties arose in ensuring pharmaceutical companies paid due credit to any knowledge of local methods or plants.
Tarawneh stressed IPR legislation could not only protect traditional knowledge but could be hugely beneficial to the economy such that local knowledge could generate profits.
He used the example that a company could cash in on its trademark and in the same way, good IPR legislation could achieve the same for folklore and tradition. Although the UAE doesn’t have legislation as yet, he said the government was leading the way in advancing Intellectual Property Rights which had been recognised by the world congress being held in Dubai and outside Europe for the first time.
Tarawneh said WIPO had conducted many meetings and training seminars in the UAE and several residents had been trained to become IPR Arab experts.
Additionally Dubai Customs had established a unit specifically for dealing with IPR, the first such unit within the Middle East, and was complementing a similar team within the Ministry of Economy.
In the first half of this year a seminar would be conducted for judges and prosecutors.
“The UAE is working hard towards this,” Tarawneh concluded. Source
No comments:
Post a Comment