(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM)) ABU DHABI, 26th April, 2021 (WAM) -- The Ministry of Economy announced that the number of registered patents at the end of 2020 totalled 25,598 while the number of patent applications was 1,971.
On the occasion of the annual World Intellectual Property Day on 26th April, the ministry told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) that it is continuing to address the issue of counterfeit goods, noting that its Commercial Regulatory Department conducted 463 inspections and filed 98 violations in the first quarter of 2021.
The department is continuing to conduct inspection visits and responding rapidly to complaints about counterfeit goods in local markets to protect talents and innovators, the ministry added while pointing out that the number of registered trademarks from 1992 to 21st April, 2021, amounted to 269,189.
The ministry has signed over ten agreements with international institutions that support intellectual property rights, including the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure and the Strasbourg Agreement concerning the International Patent Classification The ministry joined the Paris Agreement in 1996, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1996, the Berne Convention in 2004, the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations in 2004, the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) in 2004, and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) in 2005.
The ministry also joined the Beijing Treaty on Audio-Visual Performances in 2014 and the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, Or Otherwise Print Disabled in 2014.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take center stage at this year's celebration of World Intellectual Property Day, with WIPO Director General Daren Tang describing them as the "unsung heroes" of the global economy and an engine for growth in a post-pandemic world.
In a video message celebrating World IP Day, which occurs each April 26, Mr. Tang said that SMEs account for 90 percent of all companies worldwide and 70 percent of global employment[1]. That's why World IP Day 2021 is carrying the theme "IP and SMEs: Taking your ideas to market."
"SMEs are the engines, the unsung heroes of our economy. And yet for many of them, there is still a lack of knowledge about how IP can help them translate their ideas into products, and how IP can be a powerful tool for them to not just survive, but to also compete and grow," he said.
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