World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated each year on 26 April. The 2020 theme is Innovate for a Green Future. Before you start celebrating, get up to speed on the meaning of intellectual property.
And due to COVID-19, WIPO has compiled a great list of virtual activities for World IP Day 2020.
You may also want to register for U.S. Copyright Office's free Copyright Matters lecture in celebration of World IP Day (will be held 29 April 2020)
In WIPO's words...
The 2020 World Intellectual Property campaign puts innovation – and the IP rights that support it – at the heart of efforts to create a green future. Why? Because the choices we make today will shape our tomorrow. The earth is our home. We need to care for it.
The campaign also celebrates the many inspiring inventors and creators around the world who are betting on a green future – the women, men and young people who are working on cleaner alternatives to legacy fossil-fuel-based technologies and better and more sustainable food and natural resource management systems, and who are using the IP system to support their work and its uptake and use in society.
We explore how a balanced and robust IP system can support the emergence of a green economy that works with and not against the earth’s life-support systems.
We look at how the patent system fosters innovation and the development and diffusion of eco-friendly technologies that enable us tackle the climate crisis and build a green future; how design thinking and design rights together support the optimal use of resources and enable designers to invest their time and talent in creating useful, attractive and eco-friendly products for consumers.
We consider how trademarks and other identifiers support the emergence and growth of businesses built on principles of environmental sustainability, enabling them to offer a broader range of eco-friendly products and services.
We see how rights, such as geographical indications are encouraging more sustainable natural resource use and how plant-breeding rights. are promoting the development of more resilient crops in support of global food security.
And we observe how creators – who through the copyright system can earn a living from their work – can play a key role in creating a vision of a green future and its untold benefits.
You can read more about this year's World IP Day theme on the WIPO site.
Make World Intellectual Property Day a Copyright Awareness day
Copyrightlaws.com encourages you to celebrate 26 April as a day of copyright awareness and education. Not sure what to do? Below are some suggestions. Remember - each day you can spread copyright awareness and educate others how to protect their content and legally use the content of others!
- Thank a photographer or author for their work
- Discuss downloading (legally!) music with your friends, students or children
- Share a link to an article about legally using online content with a colleague or friend
- Use social media to inform your clients, patrons or audience about World IP Day and remind them about how to legally use third-party content (if you use others' photos for example, make sure you have permission to do so!)
- Use the #worldipday hashtag in your Facebook and Twitter posts
- Host a discussion group to talk about the innovations that have helped your industry or daily life advance
- View the huge list of activities your organization can do to engage the media, businesses and schools/universities as suggested by WIPO
Need to educate yourself about copyright law and intellectual property before educating others? Register for our Copyright Leadership Certificate program and enhance your copyright knowledge today.
