The Intellectual Property (IP) sector of the Ministry of Economy (MoEc) took part in the 11th meeting of the League of Arab States’ Intellectual Property and Competitiveness Department’s Technical Committee on Intellectual Property, which was held in Cairo. Several government representatives from the Arab IP industry were present.
H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Hassan Al Muaini, Assistant Undersecretary for Intellectual Property Rights Sector at the Ministry of Economy, said that MoEc is keen to enhance cooperation with its partners in the government and private sectors at the local, regional, and global levels to develop an integrated protection environment for various IP applications in accordance with global best practices. This includes safeguarding the rights of authors, neighboring rights, and intellectual works in all fields of literature, arts, and sciences in line with MoEc’s strategic objectives to enhance leadership, competitiveness, and innovation in the UAE, and the vision for the next 50.
H.E. Al Muaini emphasized the UAE’s efforts to create legislation governing the IP sector in his opening remarks at the meeting. Three laws that govern and safeguard industrial property rights, trademarks, copyright, and adjacent rights were modified in this regard by the nation. This improved the environment for intellectual property in the UAE, boosted innovation, research, and development there, gave trademarks, authors, and creators integrated protection, opened doors to innovative projects from around the globe, and promoted investment in new economy sectors.
The latest meeting followed up on the implementation of the recommendations of the subcommittees of the IP Technical Committee. These are the Subcommittee on Industrial Property and the Subcommittee on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. In addition, the meeting reviewed the mechanisms for the preparation of a document on the reality surrounding industrial property in Arab countries, addressing the topic of a regional network for technology and innovation support centers in the region. The challenges facing copyright and neighboring rights in Arab countries and the ways to confront them were also discussed, apart from completing the preparation of a draft study on copyright and neighboring rights.
The Technical Committee consists of government officials responsible for IP offices (industrial property offices, copyright offices, and neighboring rights offices) in Arab countries. It is responsible for the establishment of rules for cooperation between Arab countries in the field of IP protection, thus enhancing their awareness on IP issues and encouraging innovation.
