World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated on the 26th of April throughout the world to raise awareness of the rights every individual has, as a creator, artist, developer in any and every field of work. Every year on this day we celebrate the growth and importance of Intellectual Property. To put it simply Intellectual property It is a category of property that includes intangible creation of the human intellect, primarily encompasses all sort of brand names, art, architecture and entertainment. These are protected under Trademark, Copyright and Patents laws.
Pakistan is slowly realizing the importance of IP and the growth in awareness is clearly visible. Having a forward looking and futuristic approach, it became a signatory to different conventions and treaties related to IP protection, such as the Berne Convention 1886; the Universal copyright convention 1952, Paris convention 2004 with formulation of new IP legislations such as the Trade Marks Ordinance, 2001, The growth of protection afforded to IPR in Pakistan is ever increasing.
Every year the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) sets different themes to be celebrated. This year the theme followed the women empowerment movement that has been visible in so many other fields and the topic of celebration was Power Change: Women In Innovation and Creativity.
This year Ali & Associates in collaboration with the US Consulate along with its official media partner Aaj News celebrated World IP day by hosting a panel discussion to talk about this topic. The Panel was made up of women from different disciplines sharing their experiences as a woman trying to make a name for herself and how IP has evolved and has grown to give women and creators in general the right over their creations. The panel consisted of notable personalities such as Shallum Xavier (Musician), Ambareen Thompson (Director I AM KARACHI), Adiyah Shah (Research and Strategy Lead for international business at Creative Chaos), Rufina Soomro (Doctor) and Sahira Kazmi (Actor) and joining them to give an introduction to what Intellectual Property law is was IP Specialist and lawyer Ali Kabir Shah (Partner Ali & Associates).
