Focus on books and copyrights

Books are so much a part of us. They are a source of fun, education and entertainment. It's very difficult to find a person who doesn't like books. Books and authors will come under the spotlight when UNESCO observes World Book and Copyright Day on April 23.

The Day is also known as the International Day of the Book and World Book Day. The event is organised for the 12th time this year by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyrights.

The date is symbolic for world literature as it is on April 23 that giants in the literacy field such as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega died.

The day also marks the births and deaths of several prominent authors like Maurice Druon, Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Pla and Manuel Mejia Vallejo. So, April 23 was a natural choice for the UNESCO General Conference to choose as the day to pay tribute to both books and authors.

The idea for the celebrations was first arrived at in the Spanish city of Catalonia, where on April 23 (St. George's Day), a rose used to be given as a gift for every book sold. An old custom here was for men to give their lovers roses and the women to gift them books. The official UNESCO celebrations were initiated in 1995.

Now, millions of people including schoolchildren from over 100 countries in the world observe the event. In the UK and Ireland, children receive free book tokens on this day, which they can use to buy books which are specially released for the occasion.

Book sales are also organised at many schools. In Spain, Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote is read, while awards are also presented to literary work.

Two countries that have already made plans for this year's event are Switzerland and Italy. The Swiss Book Lobby has organised a campaign titled 'Switzerland is reading', which is among many other initiatives designed to promote reading.

The Italian National Commission for UNESCO has chosen cultural diversity as the theme for this year and has organised a round table discussion on the wastage of books.

Copyrights

Copyright is the sole right vested within a creator to print, publish or perform some work. The protection offered by copyrights and neighbouring rights is essential for enhancing individual creativity, the development of cultural industries and the promotion of cultural diversity.

Widely prevalent piracy (reproduction and distribution of material without proper authorisation) and the low enforcement of copyright laws are destroying the incentive to create and distribute local cultural products in all countries.

This creates the need for efforts to encourage creativity to foster sustainable development. The Universal Copyright Convention, implemented in 1952 under the aegis of UNESCO to promote copyrights, conducts awareness raising and capacity building projects and information training and research in the field of copyright law. It is also developing new initiatives to help fight piracy.

The digital revolution has affected copyright protection to a large extent and UNESCO is working towards a solution to this issue.

It has to be dealt with, taking the development perspective into account and paying attention to the need for maintaining a balance between the interests of the author and the right of the public to access knowledge and information.

WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was created in 1967 to encourage creative activity and promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.

WIPO currently has 184 member states, administers 23 international treaties, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Almost all UN members are members of this group. The predecessor(former office) to WIPO was the BIRPI.

WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (signed at Stockholm on July 14, 1967 and amended on September 28, 1979). WIPO became a specialised agency of the UN in 1974.

Copyright conventions

There are many international conventions and treaties related to copyright and intellectual property. Some of them are:

* Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Was adopted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886. Led to the setting up of the bureau to handle administrative tasks; in 1893, this led to the creation of the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI) in Berne.

This moved to Geneva in 1960 and became the World Intellectual Property Organization in 1967. As at July 2006, 162 countries were party to the Berne Convention.

* Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) - Was adopted in Geneva in 1952 and was developed by UNESCO as an alternative to the Berne Convention, for states which didn't agree with the latter. Members of the Berne Union also became signatories to the UCC later so that protection provided by the UCC would exist in non-Berne Union states too.

* Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property - One of the first intellectual property treaties, it was signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, after a diplomatic conference in Paris in 1880.

Eleven countries - Belgium, Brazil, France, Guatemala, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Salvador, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland - were signatories. The Convention now has 171 contracting member countries. It's administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

*Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

* Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indication of Source on Goods

* Nairobi Treaty

* Patent Cooperation Treaty

* Trade Mark Law Treaty