On the 26th
April 1970, the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property
Organisation entered into force. The Convention was signed in Stockholm on the
14th July 1967 and amended on the 28th September 1979. It
contains 21 Articles
Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe is supposed to have remarked, “Thinking… is no more and no
less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives
colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas.” Ideas are then as
much matter as any organ of the body. They are the fruits of the brain. It is
not too difficult a concept to suppose that this fruit belongs to the ‘tree’
from whence they grew. Over time, it has come to be accepted that such original
‘ideas’ as can be exploited, belong to the person who ‘thought’ them. That
person should be allowed to protect them, hence the establishment or patents,
trademarks, copyright etc. The business
of dealing with these ideas across the world had become such a quagmire of
duplicity and deceit that in 1883 a number of people refused to attend the
International Exhibition of Inventions in Vienna for fear that their ideas
would be stolen and exploited commercially in other countries. This marked the
birth of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. This
lead to the Berne Convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic Works
in 1886 and, eventually, the general concept of ‘Intellectual Property’ lead to
the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Why has the ‘idea’ of protecting
and preserving ‘ideas’ been more effectively accomplished world wide, with so
many countries agreeing to and accepting the Convention and the concept of
Intellectual Property, than preserving and protecting the peace. Is the idea of
peace un-intellectual, is it so un-commercial, does it have no-matter? It is
clearly not an easy sell. Perhaps it does not fall within the Conventions
definition and objectives. Would that it did. Think about it.
“Intellectual property”
shall include the rights relating to:
–
literary, artistic and
scientific works,
–
performances of performing
artists, phonograms, and broadcasts,
–
inventions in all fields of
human endeavour,
–
scientific discoveries,
–
industrial designs,
–
trademarks, service marks, and
commercial names and designations,
–
protection against unfair
competition,
–
and all other rights resulting
from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic
fields.
The objectives of the Organization are:
(i)
to promote the protection of
intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States
and, where appropriate, in collaboration with any other international
organization
(ii)
to ensure administrative
cooperation among the Unions.
In order to attain the objectives described, the Organization,
through its appropriate organs, and subject to the competence of each of the
Unions:
(i)
shall promote the development
of measures designed to facilitate the efficient protection of intellectual
property throughout the world and to harmonize national legislation in this field;
(ii)
shall perform the
administrative tasks of the Paris Union, the Special Unions established in
relation with that Union, and the Berne Union;
(iii)
may agree to assume, or
participate in, the administration of any other international agreement
designed to promote the protection of intellectual property;
(iv)
shall encourage the conclusion
of international agreements designed to promote the protection of intellectual
property;
(v)
shall offer its cooperation to
States requesting legal–technical assistance in the field of intellectual
property;
(vi)
shall assemble and disseminate
information concerning the protection of intellectual property, carry out and
promote studies in this field, and publish the results of such studies;
(vii)
shall maintain services
facilitating the international protection of intellectual property and, where
appropriate, provide for registration in this field and the publication of the
data concerning the registrations;
(viii) shall take all other appropriate action.
The following is
the list of contracting parties. So whose missing?
Afghanistan
|
Albania
|
Algeria
|
Andorra
|
Angola
|
Antigua
and Barbuda
|
Argentina
|
Armenia
|
Australia
|
Austria
|
Azerbaijan
|
Bahamas
|
Bahrain
|
Bangladesh
|
Barbados
|
Belarus
|
Belgium
|
Belize
|
Benin
|
Bhutan
|
Bolivia
(Plurinational State of)
|
Bosnia
and Herzegovina
|
Botswana
|
Brazil
|
Brunei
Darussalam
|
Bulgaria
|
Burkina
Faso
|
Burundi
|
Cambodia
|
Cameroon
|
Canada
|
Cape
Verde
|
Central
African Republic
|
Chad
|
Chile
|
China
|
Colombia
|
Comoros
|
Congo
|
Costa
Rica
|
Côte
d'Ivoire
|
Croatia
|
Cuba
|
Cyprus
|
Czech
Republic
|
Democratic
People's Republic of Korea
|
Democratic
Republic of the Congo
|
Denmark
|
Djibouti
|
Dominica
|
Dominican
Republic
|
Ecuador
|
Egypt
|
El
Salvador
|
Equatorial
Guinea
|
Eritrea
|
Estonia
|
Ethiopia
|
Fiji
|
Finland
|
France
|
Gabon
|
Gambia
|
Georgia
|
Germany
|
Ghana
|
Greece
|
Grenada
|
Guatemala
|
Guinea
|
Guinea-Bissau
|
Guyana
|
Haiti
|
Holy
See
|
Honduras
|
Hungary
|
Iceland
|
India
|
Indonesia
|
Iran
(Islamic Republic of)
|
Iraq
|
Ireland
|
Israel
|
Italy
|
Jamaica
|
Japan
|
Jordan
|
Kazakhstan
|
Kenya
|
Kuwait
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
Lao
People's Democratic Republic
|
Latvia
|
Lebanon
|
Lesotho
|
Liberia
|
Libya
|
Liechtenstein
|
Lithuania
|
Luxembourg
|
Madagascar
|
Malawi
|
Malaysia
|
Maldives
|
Mali
|
Malta
|
Mauritania
|
Mauritius
|
Mexico
|
Monaco
|
Mongolia
|
Montenegro
|
Morocco
|
Mozambique
|
Myanmar
|
Namibia
|
Nepal
|
Netherlands
|
New
Zealand
|
Nicaragua
|
Niger
|
Nigeria
|
Norway
|
Oman
|
Pakistan
|
Panama
|
Papua
New Guinea
|
Paraguay
|
Peru
|
Philippines
|
Poland
|
Portugal
|
Qatar
|
Republic
of Korea
|
Republic
of Moldova
|
Romania
|
Russian
Federation
|
Rwanda
|
Saint
Kitts and Nevis
|
Saint
Lucia
|
Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines
|
Samoa
|
San
Marino
|
Sao
Tome and Principe
|
Saudi
Arabia
|
Senegal
|
Serbia
|
Seychelles
|
Sierra
Leone
|
Singapore
|
Slovakia
|
Slovenia
|
Somalia
|
South
Africa
|
Spain
|
Sri
Lanka
|
Sudan
|
Suriname
|
Swaziland
|
Sweden
|
Switzerland
|
Syrian
Arab Republic
|
Tajikistan
|
Thailand
|
the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
|
Togo
|
Tonga
|
Trinidad
and Tobago
|
Tunisia
|
Turkey
|
Turkmenistan
|
Uganda
|
Ukraine
|
United
Arab Emirates
|
United
Kingdom
|
United
Republic of Tanzania
|
United
States of America
|
Uruguay
|
Uzbekistan
|
Vanuatu
|
Venezuela
(Bolivarian Republic of)
|
Viet
Nam
|
Yemen
|
Zambia
|
Zimbabwe
|
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a decommissioned nuclear power
station near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, 18 km (11 mi) northwest of
the city of Chernobyl, 16 km (9.9 mi) from the Ukraine–Belarus
border, and about 110 km (68 mi) north of Kiev.
On Saturday, 26th
April 1986, a disaster occurred at reactor No. 4, which has been widely
regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power. As a result,
reactor No. 4 was completely destroyed and has since been enclosed in a
concrete and lead sarcophagus to prevent further escape of radiation. Large
areas of Europe were affected by the accident. The radiation cloud spread as
far away as Norway, in Scandinavia.
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