Gov’t to modernise intellectual property – AG

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong on Wednesday said the country was modernising its intellectual property regime to meet the needs of the current times.

She noted that intellectual property rights have been recognized as a powerful mechanism within the national economies and there was the need for Ghana to attach great importance to it.

Speaking at the opening of a three –day national training workshop on the Effective Use of Technical and Scientific Information, the Attorney-General noted that, intellectual property creations and intellectual property assets were among the main drivers of economic development in the knowledge based economies.

She acknowledged the concerns and challenges faced by researchers and owners of intellectual property and assured them of government‘s effort in addressing their concerns.

“Government intends to demystify intellectual property and ensure that research and business communities as well as owners of intellectual property rights use intellectual property as a tool to enhance the market value”.

The training workshop, the second to be organised, is to take participants drawn from research institutions and Universities across the country through Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISC) Programme.

It is organized by the governments of Ghana and Japan in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property.

The TISC programme is to enable beneficiary countries to raise their level of technical and scientific knowledge in order to reduce the gaps that existed between them and industrialized countries.

Through the TISC programme, Ghana will have access to technologies and scientific publications, which has helped Europe, North America, and Asia to develop their economies.

Dr Elangi Botoy Ituku, the Programme Officer of World Intellectual Property Organisation, in charge of Innovation and Technology Support Section, said Ghana under the TISC programme could foster its scientific and technological base and master any kind of scientific and technical fields.

There are over 80 million technologies and more than 40,000 scientific publications, stored in specialized database for free access by participating countries.

He noted that progress of science and technology has enabled industrialized countries to improve living conditions of their populations, knowledge and use of the results in developing countries.

He entreated participants to maximize their efforts in order to master topics that would be treated and use the acquired knowledge in their fields of work for the development of the country.

Mr Shigeru Umetsu, the Counselor of Japan Embassy, said the training would build the capacity through the development of national networks of TISCs, capable of assisting local users to effectively use and exploit technology in patent as well as science and technology journal database.

“It will also facilitate more effective development of the TISC network through practical sessions on raising awareness and training of trainers and it is my sincere wish that this event would provide an opportunity for promoting utilization of technology databases in Ghana, and that it would eventually contribute to the protection and utilization of intellectual property in Ghana”.