Every April 26, the world celebrates World Intellectual Property Day. The goal is to promote and raise awareness of how influential and decisive intellectual property rights are for ideas, innovations, and creations.
The day highlights the benefits of IP for ongoing human progress and the development of technological and industrial innovations. IP is therefore used as a strategic tool tied to each country’s economic development, and it includes the people, companies, and industries responsible for the creations.
The fundamental role of intellectual property is to provide a legal framework for projects and ideas, so that they can develop with strength and competitiveness around the world.
The music we listen to, the T-shirt we wear, the book we read, the app we download, the university where we study, the coffee we drink. All of this is intellectual property, in its various forms.
WIPO explains why there is a day dedicated to it.
“World Intellectual Property Day highlights the importance of a balanced intellectual property system for recognizing and rewarding inventors and creators for their work and ensuring that society benefits from their creativity and ingenuity. IP rights allow researchers, inventors, companies, designers, artists, and others to legally protect their innovative and creative products and earn an economic return from them.”
Why April 26?
In 2000, WIPO’s member states chose April 26, the day the WIPO Convention entered into force in 1970, to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day, with the aim of fostering a broader general understanding of IP.
Register your IP and change the world?
Of course: once you register an asset under intellectual property laws, you have already done much of the work needed to bring about change or improvement in the world.
Here are 8 world-changing creations backed by IP, some of them Argentine.
These are ideas that paved the way for other innovations that have transformed the planet. All of them have helped change our surroundings and drive progress throughout human history.
| IP ASSET | TYPE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY | IMPACT |
|---|---|---|
| WWW – WORLD WIDE WEB | Copyright, trademark, and know-how. | Browsing the internet through hypertext, web pages, and servers, revolutionizing the way information is shared and ushering in a new era of the internet. |
| COCA-COLA | Trademark and trade secret. | A global model of branding, marketing, and commercial protection. |
| LEGO | Patent (initially), trademark, and industrial design. | Children’s creativity and STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). |
| INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB | Invention patent. | It revolutionized lighting, making nighttime activities and work possible, as well as work in poorly lit places. |
| TELEPHONE | Invention patent. | It transformed long-distance communication, connecting the world instantly. |
| AIRPLANE | Invention patent. | It launched the age of aviation, transforming transportation and connecting the world. |
| ARGENTINE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY | TYPE OF IP | IMPACT |
|---|---|---|
| BALLPOINT PEN | Invention patent. | It transformed everyday writing around the world. |
| DISPOSABLE SYRINGE | Invention patent. | It revolutionized medicine by eliminating the risk of infection from reused needles, and it made safe mass vaccination possible. |
Related reading:
The value of ideas: managing them can change your life.
The Intellectual Property Law: protecting creativity.
