Liberia: LIPO ready to celebrate "World IP Day" anti-piracy campaign

Liberia’s Industrial Property Office or LIPO says it is ready to celebrate this year’s World IP Day with series of activities aimed at creating massive awareness about intellectual property in the country.

World IP Day is celebrated April 26 each year. LIPO will use this year’s celebration to continue awareness and sensitization campaign under the theme: “Piracy is a Public Enemy for our Economic Growth, Stop Piracy to Empower Innovation and Creativity.”

Clifford B. Robinson, Chairman on the IP day celebration committee in a press statement over the weekend explained that activities for this year’s celebration include IP clinic, an IP business workshop and an indoor program for 25 & 26 April at the YMCA Conference Hall, commencing with a street parade.

World IP Day – a day on which the global IP community joins with others to acknowledge the fundamentally important role of IP in promoting innovation and development throughout the world.

“The IP clinic is a day set aside to enlighten members of the creative sector on the legal framework of intellectual property within and outside of the border, the essence of moral and economic rights and how IP can be used as a wealth of creation”, the release says.

According to Chairman Robinson, the next day (April 26), will be the official World IP day celebration that will focus on educating stakeholders on the economic benefits of IP, saying, “Awareness is the key to building an environment where right holders’ rights will be protected and this two day awareness period, is just in continuation of what we have already started.”

On March 22, LIPO began its first-ever nationwide awareness aimed at helping copyright holders, the police, customs officers and the general public to understand the IP law.

The awareness, held separately at the US Embassy in Monrovia and the headquarters of the Liberia National Police (LNP), brought together over 100 participants from diverse backgrounds, including copyright holders, who were educated on the 2016 IP law, the process of filling in applications and its benefits in a bid to reduce the number of infringements.

Recently, the new Intellectual Property Law, which aims to prevent counterfeit in all sectors, including providing ownership of artistic works, inventions, and academic research, among others, was approved by the Liberian Legislature.

The new Act, a.k.a. the Liberia Intellectual Property Act, was passed on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, by the House of Representatives to concur with the Liberian Senate. Lawmakers, unanimously approved the Act owing to a report from the Joint Committee on Commerce and Industry and Judiciary, with the Committee on Commerce and Industry serving as the lead Committee. Press Release.