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28 April 2015Copyright

World IP Day: lawyers offer conflicting views on event’s importance

Lawyers speaking to WIPR have offered differing views on the importance of World IP Day for raising awareness of musicians’ rights, two days after the event was celebrated.

On Sunday (April 26), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted the fifteenth annual World IP Day. Under the title “Get Up, Stand Up. For Music.”, the event focused on the potential abuse of musicians’ rights following the development of digital streaming models.

WIPO’s director general, Francis Gurry, highlighted the pressures such streaming services have had on copyright protection. He said that while the internet has created a “global stage for music” it is important the public does not “lose sight of creators and performers in the new digital economy”.

His words were supported by Jean Michel Jarre, a musician and president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, who stated that “creators need to be granted fair remuneration for the use of their creative works”.

According to WIPO, 245 events in 87 countries were held to honour the occasion.

But for Mark Owen, partner at law firm Taylor Wessing, World IP Day does not go far enough in addressing the real target of the event: the average consumer of music.

He said: “Events like World IP Day seem on the face of it a good idea, but for what? Is it just preaching to the choir, to those people who are already well aware of music rights? Very few normal people have heard of WIPO or care what it does, and I doubt this event builds much awareness of music rights at all.

“What is perhaps more important is continuing to focus policy makers on the debate about the value in music and who should get what share of it,” he added.

Owen referred to the recent announcement from The Green Party of England and Wales that it wants to see the length of copyright protection reduced from ‘life plus 70 years’ to ‘life plus 14 years’ as an example of the misunderstanding of the importance of musicians’ copyright outside the IP world.

But Peder Oxhammar, partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie, said he saw the positive side to World IP Day and believes it has role to play in highlighting the issue of musicians’ rights among the general public.

He said: “It is more than ever very important to continue building the awareness of music rights. World IP Day is a very fine example.

“Recently the music rights issue has had a tendency to fall off the radar in light of the technological developments with streaming moving consumption from illegal downloading to legal services such as Spotify,” he added.

A spokesperson for WIPO told WIPR that believes World IP Day is a success. It cites events taking place in India, Mexico and Vietnam as a testament to the global nature of the day.

"Each year, World IP Day engages a global audience in a conversation about the importance of IP.  The majority of events organised target a non-specialist audience. Many events aim at informing businesses about the value of IP, of which they may not yet be aware; including open days, exhibitions and awards ceremonies," the spokesperson said.

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27 April 2015   More than 200 events have been held around the world to mark World IP Day, which this year centred on musicians' rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization has revealed.