U. S. Mission fetes students, promotes intellectual property rights protection

TO promote public awareness on protection of intellectual property rights ( IPR), the United States Mission in collaboration with the American Business Council, hosted the second edition of its Intellectual Property ( IP) Symposium in Lagos.

The two- day symposium tagged ‘ Intellectual Property and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future,’ is the theme for World IP Day 2022.

The two- day symposium, led by the United States Department of Justice’s INLfunded Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training ( OPDAT)’ s International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Attorney Adviser ( ICHIP), brought together key stakeholders in Nigeria’s IPR protection framework, including leading entertainment and creative industry leaders.

Delivering remarks during the opening ceremony of the symposium in Lagos, U. S. Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard, noted that protection of intellectual property rights is critical for any economy that wants to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

She noted that strong intellectual property rights protection is essential to creating jobs and opening new markets for goods and services.

She encouraged stakeholders in the intellectual property space to shore up Nigeria’s IPR legal framework and lay a solid foundation for youths to drive innovation and engender a more prosperous Nigeria.

“Nigerian youths are incredible sources of ingenuity and creativity; a strong system of intellectual property rights assures inventors, industrial designers, musicians, and artists alike that their creative content would be protected and valued,” she said.