IP rights protection Fosters development

Government has said the granting and protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights encourages and fosters creativity and ingenuity in technical, commercial, literary and artistic fields.

Solicitor General Janet Banda believes that the guarantee of property rights over creation of the mind for a limited time, presents a chance to proprietors of IP rights to commercially exploit their creations; hence, making a return on their investment.

“This guarantee of protection stimulates and fosters investment in times and resources in the generation of ideas which society enjoys which is in the form of new and exciting inventions such as mobile gadgets that we now take for granted, new medicines and advanced medical equipment which ensure that we lead healthy lives,” she said, at the opening of a two-day national IP policy workshop in Blantyre.

The workshop was held with financial resources and resource persons courtesy of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo).

IP, according to Banda, who is also Secretary for Justice, refers to property rights that are accorded to intangible creations of the mind such as patents—the inventions in technical and scientific areas—and copyright—granted in respect of literally and artistic works such as books and music.

The draft policy that was under discussion on Thursday and Friday was developed by the department of science and technology, the ministry of justice and the department of the registrar general and aims to ensure the full integration of IP issues in Malawi policies to accelerate social, economic, cultural, scientific and technological advancement.

“The idea to draft a Malawi intellectual property policy stemmed from the realisation that as a country, we were not deriving the potential benefits of intellectual property to the economy. This, it was felt, was a result of the lack of a regulatory administrative framework on the use, management and administration of intellectual property rights to accelerate our nation socio-economic and technological development endeavours,” said Banda.

What is more glaring, she said, is the fact that the country’s five-year development plan, the second generation Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS II) does not make reference to the protection of IP rights as one of the strategies for realising development goals.

This would suggest a lack of awareness on the critical role that an effective IP system plays as a tool for national development.