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WIPO Director General Pledges Support toBulgaria

Geneva, October 8, 1999
Press Updates UPD/1999/71

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Government of Bulgaria have agreed to continue collaboration to modernize and upgrade Bulgaria's intellectual property system to ensure that it can realize the benefits of the information society in the next century. This came during two days of talks between the Director General of WIPO, Dr. Kamil Idris, and Bulgarian leaders, including President Mr. Petar Stoyanov, Mr. Alexander Boshkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Mrs. Nadzhda Mihailova, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mrs. Emma Moskova, Minister of Culture on October 5 and 6, 1999.

Dr. Idris applauded the government of Bulgaria for its long-standing and continued commitment to intellectual property protection and reaffirmed WIPO's readiness to support and assist the Government of Bulgaria in strengthening its intellectual property system. In a meeting with President Stoyanov, Dr. Idris underlined the central importance of an effective intellectual property system as a mechanism for wealth creation and social and cultural well-being, particularly in the context of the emergence of knowledge-based economies. Dr. Idris outlined WIPO's technical cooperation activities with countries in transition and pledged the Organization's continued support to Bulgaria through a tailor-made National Focused Action Plan. The Director General said WIPO's Worldwide Academy would cooperate with Bulgarian academic circles in organizing an international seminar on the teaching of intellectual property next year in Bulgaria.

President Stoyanov underlined his country's long-standing record of success in the field of intellectual property and its continued commitment to meeting international obligations in the protection of intellectual property rights. President Stoyanov referred to his country's recent successes in clamping down on piracy of audiovisual materials. Bulgaria has recently reinforced its intellectual property legislation and strengthened its enforcement capacities. The President said the visit of Dr. Idris was an encouragment to Bulgaria.

At a meeting with Mr. Alexander Boshkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Dr. Idris presented WIPO's vision on the role of intellectual property and intellectual capital as main components of knowledge-based economies of the next century. This posed both challenges and opportunities. He emphasized the importance of information and electronic commerce in the information society. Further details discussed included the possible establishment of a network of national centers to promote innovation. Details of Bulgaria's cooperation with WIPO were discussed in a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Nadezhda Mihailova, including new global intellectual property issues, such as biotechnology, biodiversity, Internet and electronic commerce and their impact on economic development. WIPO will assist Bulgaria in organizing specialized training courses on intellectual property for the judiciary, customs and law enforcement officers. The Minister of Culture, Mrs. Emma Moskova addressed the issue of intellectual property in respect of folklore, museum exhibits and cultural artifacts and pointed out that her Ministry was preparing draft laws on those questions.

In an address to some 400 members of the academic, research, legal and business communities at the University of Sofia, the Director General outlined WIPO's global intellectual property development strategy to meet the challenges of the new millennium. In view of the growing importance of intellectual property within key policy areas, the Director General emphasized the importance of collective leadership, involving member States and market sector interests, to ensure globalization without marginalization.

The Director General further identified a number of challenges confronting policy makers and the intellectual property community at large. These included the need to demystify intellectual property in order to reach "the grass roots and the main beneficiaries of the intellectual property system". Simplification, easy access, effective communications and facilitation of working methods and procedures to ensure that the intellectual property system is widely used and understood as a tool for economic growth and development were identified as important challenges. He noted the need to broaden the intellectual property debate to consider "not only legal implications of intellectual property ... but also the human, social and economic aspects of intellectual property".

Highlighting the importance of intellectual property in the Digital Age, Dr. Idris said referred to the phenomenal growth of the software and entertainment sectors which owed their success to "creativity, knowledge and information and in the heart of this is found the intellectual property system".

Dr. Idris underlined that countries like Bulgaria must be supported in their efforts to fully develop their creative potential in order to stimulate economic prosperity. He said "In the digital economy of the next century, answering these questions means a country like Bulgaria would have a wonderful opportunity to attract foreign investment, to support the local inventors and innovators, to protect its own cultural heritage and folklore, to upgrade its own indigenous technology, to disseminate effectively and efficiently the wealth of technological information to create wealth for the nation and to apply self-reliance".

Dr. Idris also visited the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria. Bulgaria is party to all the major intellectual property treaties administered by the Organization. Bulgaria has been a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works since 1921, and it has been a member of WIPO since May 19, 1970.

For further information, please contact the Media Relations and Public Affairs Section at WIPO:

  • Tel: (+41 22) 338 81 61; (+41 22) 338 95 47
  • Fax: (+41 22) 338 88 10
  • E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int
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