PEACE IS NOT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

On the 26^th April 1970, the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organisation entered into force. The Convention was signed in Stockholm on the 14^th July 1967 and amended on the 28^th 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

One additional note for the 26th April: 

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, 26^th 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.