Intellectual Property for Women in Business

[WIPO Magazine - November-December 2000, page 21]

A WIPO seminar on Intellectual Property for Women Heads of Enterprises was held in Abuja, Nigeria in September to help boost awareness among women entrepreneurs of intellectual property as a tool for economic and industrial growth, and to stress the benefits available from the intellectual property protection system.

The seminar, organized by WIPO in collaboration with the Government of Nigeria, was specifically for English-speaking African countries. Some 80 participants drawn from the trade and manufacturing sectors of 15 countries attended the seminar. Participants from the host country also represented a wide spectrum of governmental and non-governmental institutions.

In an opening statement, the Nigerian Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Ibrahim Bunu retraced the history of intellectual property in Nigeria and emphasized the importance of intellectual property in technological and industrial advancement around the world. He reiterated Nigeria's commitment to the protection and promotion of intellectual property and announced that Nigeria would establish an intellectual property commission before the end of the year.

Speakers recognized the need in most African countries to promote awareness of various facets of ntellectual property and its impact on development and economic growth. They called on women entrepreneurs to continue to seek more information after the seminar on the relevance of intellectual property to their business activities.

• Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Director of WIPO's African bureau, gave a brief overview of recent developments in the field of intellectual property and the strategic direction of the Organization's cooperation for development program.
• Mr. Onyeama outlined the relevance of the seminar's topics to the participants' business activities, and invited them to identify critical areas for future collaboration.

Session Highlights

For many participants, the seminar offered a first exposure to the concepts of intellectual property. Thus, the first session was devoted to definitions of various aspects of intellectual property and its applications. The lectures covered issues specifically relevant to the women's business activities:

• Copyright protection;
• Traditional knowledge and indigenous technology as intellectual property;
• The protection of geographical indications and industrial designs with an emphasis on textile designs;
• Patents as an instrument for the promotion of inventive activity;
• Electronic commerce;
• Transfer of technology through licensing and franchising and key issues in negotiation of licensing agreements;
• Trademark infringement, unfair competition, and protection against counterfeiting.

Most questions centered on practical issues such as the protection of trademarks against counterfeiting; protection of traditional textile designs and crafts; the duration of protection; the costs involved; wealth generation through intellectual property systems; the utility of filing patent applications when many African intellectual property offices have no or limited examination capacity; and the need for Internet access to exploit electronic commerce opportunities.

Recommendations

In the last session, the participants made recommendations for possible WIPO support to women entrepreneurs in the field of intellectual property. They include the following:

• Organize similar seminars for women in business on a national and regional level;
• Study the best way to reach out to the largest number of women entrepreneurs and select a convenient and accessible venue that would enable most of them to participate;
• Disseminate publications and training materials and ensure that they reach the beneficiaries;
• Advise women entrepreneurs on their role in the timely updating and review of legislation;
• Provide Internet connectivity to associations of women entrepreneurs and women in business.

The seminar raised high expectations among participants, who committed themselves to replicate it at the national level with the support of WIPO and national intellectual property offices.