It has been a busy few months at the World Intellectual Property Organisation following their Assemblies in June which also marked the 10th anniversary of the Marrakesh Treaty with a variety of surveys, reports and other initiatives linking to copyright and publishing.

 

Perception of IP

WIPO published the results of a new international survey on the perception of IP. Based on responses from 25,000 people in 50 countries, the survey is designed to complement WIPO’s research on innovation, branding, the creative sector and IP statistics, among others. The survey found that two thirds of people questioned have a positive perception of the role that intellectual property (IP) plays in their economies, but younger people still lag in understanding IP.

 

Accessibility

The Accessible Books Consortium announced the opening of ABC Training and Technical Assistance projects for non-profit organisations working to produce books in accessible formats.

 

Publishers Circles

WIPO also continues to work on the Publishers Circles initiative publishing a video of a publisher in Madagascar and announcing a new session with the Pan African Writers Association and the International Authors Forum on ‘The Role of Copyright in African Literature’ on 31 October and 1 November.

Artificial Intelligence

WIPO held two full days of conversations around Artificial Intelligence featuring a range of stakeholders looking at the full range of potential impacts of AI from dance to patents.

 

You can catch up with those sessions at the following links and see the full programme here.

Day 1 morning | Day 1 afternoon | Day 2 morning | Day 2 afternoon.

 

Development

Former IPA President, Richard Charkin, and Emma House, prepared a report for WIPO’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) called Building a Digital Publishing Economy – Opportunities and Framework for Development.

 

Global Innovation Index

Finally, on 27 September, WIPO announced its Global Innovation Index (GII) which uses 80 indicators to track global innovation trends in 130-plus economies. According to WIPO, this year, the report’s findings are unveiled against a background of slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, high interest rates and geopolitical conflict. You can read the full report here.

 

Coming soon

In the coming months WIPO will be present at a couple of book fairs. The first is the FIL Montevideo, where Deputy Director General, Sylvie Forbin will speak in a session on Copyright and the Creative Industries. The second is Sharjah International Book Fair where they will announce the winners of the ABC Excellence Awards.