The Arab Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property (ASPIP) convened a meeting the day before yesterday in Al-Manama, the Bahraini capital, chaired by Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of the Society.
The meeting discussed a number of important topics related to property protection laws in the Arab world, the role of the Society in the legislations of intellectual property protection, support for the Arab states to develop their laws in line with the global developments and the laws of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO.)
Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh declared that the meeting also discussed the final details of the project of the master's degree in intellectual property, pointing out that it had been agreed with a number of Arab universities to grant this degree, including Ajman University in the UAE and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST) of the League of Arab States. It was also decided to set up an agreement with one university in each of the Arab states to grant this degree.
Abu-Ghazaleh revealed that the meeting also discussed the final details of the issuance of the first Arab-English dictionary for intellectual property terms. This dictionary is expected to be issued at the end of this year to bridge the big deficit in the Arab library.
The meeting also decided to set up a series of workshops on intellectual property laws for the judiciary in the Arab states. The first workshop will begin in Cairo and then Amman, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Morocco, in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Those workshops aim to sensitize judges to the nature of intellectual property issues and their different degrees, and to review the new laws applied globally in the field of intellectual property protection in accordance with international agreements and in line with the WIPO.
The President of the Society decided to establish a symposium on intellectual property and the Internet in Sharjah under the auspices of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah, and organized jointly between the Society and the Ajman University and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce on December 2nd. It was also concluded that the Society must work on the founding of an Arab regional independent private body with the name “the Council for Arab Creativity Encouragement.”
A new board headed by Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh was elected in the meeting. This board included elite experts and specialists at the level of the Arab world so that the Society can enter into the third millennium with new thinking and with aspirations consistent with the essentials and challenges of the next era.
Additionally, it was agreed that the Society will issue a comprehensive report at the start of the year 2000, containing its overall accomplishments, projects and plans.