The motto of the 8th World Intellectual Property Day, launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is "Promoting Innovation - Protecting Rights". Today, Federal Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries gave the starting signal for two competitions of the business community for the protection of intellectual property. In the competition "The Idea", associations, companies and individuals are being sought who have made a special contribution to the protection of intellectual property. In the school competition "Ideenliebe" (Love of Ideas), pupils in the 8th to 10th grades are asked to deal with the topic of intellectual property. Information on the competitions is available at http://www.microsoft.com/germany/presseservice/pressemappe.mspx?id=532155 and www.ideenliebe.de.
"World Intellectual Property Day is always a good opportunity to realise how important creativity is for our society and also how dependent we are on it. The realisation that ideas, their protection and their usability are inextricably linked is not new. But it is necessary that we keep bringing them into our own and the public consciousness" said Zypries at an event organised by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on the occasion of Intellectual Property Day in Berlin. "The right legal framework is in place. In addition, we need to raise awareness and educate consumers and the business community. That is why I very much welcome the fact that the business community has launched the competitions for which we are giving the starting signal today. It is particularly important that awareness of intellectual property is already awakened at school. After all, this is where the use of the internet develops the most, and Germany is dependent on innovative and creative young people," Zypries continued.
Recent activities of the Federal Ministry of Justice to protect intellectual property include:
- The Act to Improve the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights was passed by the German Bundestag on 11 April 2008. Among other things, it provides that in future a plaintiff can also demand information from third parties - such as internet providers or carriers - in order to better get at the counterfeiters and pirate copiers and those behind them. It also provides for easier evidence and a simplified procedure for destroying pirated goods in order to prevent such goods from being imported into the EU in the first place. With this law, Germany transposes the EU Enforcement Directive on the protection of intellectual property into national law.
- On 1 May 2008, the London Protocol enters into force. With this agreement from 2000, the participating states largely waive the requirement that patents granted by the European Patent Office in Munich be translated into their respective national languages. Business associations estimate that this can save an average of about 30 percent of patenting costs. The Act to Improve the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights ensures that the waiver of German translations will also come into force on time on 1 May.
- The "Protection of Intellectual Property" is a focal topic of the Sino-German Rule of Law Dialogue. At the 8th symposium in Munich, which has just ended, three working groups dealt intensively with the topic. The legal basis for enforcing intellectual property rights, procedures for enforcing intellectual property rights and possibilities for judicial protection were discussed.
Detailed information on measures against product piracy and other IPR infringements is available atwww.bmj.bund.de/g8.
Source: Press release of the Federal Ministry of Justice, issued by the Press and Public Relations Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice. Responsible: Eva Schmierer; Editors: Dr. Henning Plöger, Dr. Isabel Jahn, Johannes Ferguson, Ulrich Staudigl, Mohrenstr. 37, 10117 Berlin, Telephone 01888 580-9030, Fax 01888 580-9046, presse@bmj.bund.de
Goldberg Attorneys at Law, Wuppertal-Solingen 2008
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M.(Information Law)
m.ullrich@goldberg.de
