Friday 26 / April / 2024
Muscat: Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) lauded the Sultanate of Oman’s interest in the intellectual property (IP) as it is considered “a catalyst for growth”.
He added that the Sultanate of Oman is among the first Arab countries to join the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration.
In a media meeting with Oman News Agency (ONA), the WIPO Director General expressed his admiration of Oman Vision 2040 that targets economic diversification and building communities that fulfill aspirations of the Omani youth. He added that the Sultanate of Oman enjoys a dynamic young population reaching more than 60 percent of the overall population.
He said, “The Omani youth have become entrepreneurs, researchers and innovators, and they need to use intellectual property rights in order to protect their ideas and deliver their innovative, high quality products to various global markets”.
He explained that his visit to the Sultanate of Oman aims to closely view future plans, and to explore the possibility of applying intellectual property rights as a stimulating tool to create job opportunities, attract investments and support innovations on the ground.
He elaborated that his visit to Oman also aims to offer various methods of support to protect various forms of Omani heritage, in particular the Omani frankincense products.
Frankincense is harvested, the WIPO Director General said, in a unique way that Omanis have been developing as a lifestyle for hundreds of years and passed down to generations. He added, this unique product and the way of its collection require protection to become high quality product in global markets.
He also touched on the Omani frankincense project, according to which the WIPO will train 10 entrepreneurs of Omani frankincense producers on how to use intellectual property rights as an important part of their business strategy, starting with protecting and packaging this product, to marketing and eventually delivering it to various markets with high quality. This will contribute to raising the standard of living of local communities depending on such products, he explained.
He pointed out that the WIPO geographical indications (GIs) help to protect the unique products from the land, from people, or from different parts of the world, and function as support providers to local communities.
The WIPO, the Director General added, seeks to urge member states to adopt intellectual property rights in order to support young people in local communities to continue various heritage patterns, and to generate jobs associating with these life patterns. He explained that the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration provides for the protection of the names of origin represented in the geographical designation of any country, region or party that is used to denote one of the products that arise in that country, region or entity, and that its quality or characteristics are completely or mainly attributed to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors.
He underscored the importance of the Lisbon agreement in exchanging ideas and experiences among the WIPO member states, and the potential of encouraging other countries to join this agreement.
He commended the experience of the Sultanate of Oman in this regard and in particular the ongoing discussions with Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to launch master's programmes in intellectual property rights and innovation management.
