By Sanna Jawara, Copyright Officer, MIP candidate
The world’s most renowned twin celebrated days (World Book and Copyright as well as Intellectual Property) celebrations have been shadowed and humbled by COVID 19 outbreak, hence declarations by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and UNESCO to either postpone or cancel celebrations of these days for 2020, as part of efforts to curb spread of the global pandemic, which is causing havoc across the globe.
The World Book and Copyright day is celebrated every year on 23rd April, whereas World Intellectual Property day is held on 26th April every year. As such, this year’s theme for World Intellectual Property Day is ‘Innovate for a Green Future’ with objectives not limited to the following;
1-to outline significant role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in encouraging the art of innovation and creativity
2- carving a pathway to a green future, the importance of which cannot be over emphasized in modern intellectual property regimes, supporting the rights of our creative, artistic and cultural players towards achieving the desired sustainable development objectives of any given nation, especially developing countries like The Gambia.
The campaign for this year’s theme also celebrates inspiring inventors and creators across the globe, especially those struggling on ideals of having a green future and these included women, men and young people, working on cleaner alternative means of fuel supplies, through effective sustainable food and natural resource management systems.
The campaign takes stock of the following role of National and Regional IP Offices across the globe; foster asset creation in the green space, broaden Intellectual Property (IP) awareness and education to include green innovation, unlock potentials of Intellectual Property (IP) information, catalyse collaborations and networking among stakeholders and others interested in the world of IP, mobilize young people, cognizant of the role of young people in the creative, innovative, artistic and cultural industries across the world.
On the other hand, world book and copyright day, sometimes called ‘International Day of the Book’, with principal focus to promote the culture of reading, publishing and copyrighting of such products of the mind among others.
This day is often celebrated and observed by millions of people across the world in various capacities both public and private sector, and in various platforms as the day is also seen and held as an opportunity to celebrate cultural diversity, fostering unity, and initiate dialogue, among other noble human virtues.
The day was first celebrated on April 23rd 1995, with original idea to honor the late author called ‘Miguel de Cervantes’ who died on 23rd April 1995, hence UNESCO’s decision that World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23rd April.
The date also celebrates either the death or birth of global renowned writers such as William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and several other prominent authors across the world.
Therefore, Copyright Office of The Gambia, seized this opportunity to congratulate the global community, especially stakeholders in the world of promotion and protection of Intellectual Property (IP) Laws, happy and progressive World IP Day in advance and pray for God, the almighty to help in speedy eradication of COVID-19 in the world, hence restoration of normal human activities not limited to theme of this year’s celebration (Innovate for a green future).
