Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh Keynote Speaker at the First Arab Conference on Intellectual Property Rights Abu-Ghazaleh: We are proud to own one of the 7 largest offices in the world for settling intellectual property disputes

CAIRO – Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), emphasized that intellectual property rights, as life fundamentals, are the gateway to innovation.

In his statement at the First Arab Conference on Intellectual Property Rights, held under the auspices of the Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) of the Arab League and the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh pointed out that there is an agreement between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the coordination and the protection of intellectual property rights in commerce. He added that “he had the honor of chairing the expert committees at the two organizations, and through lengthy negotiations, he succeeded in convincing both organizations to study the results of the knowledge revolution, and to protect and secure the Internet through commercial agreements covering all fields, including trademarks, trade names, patents, and copyrights, and all of that was achieved through lengthy negotiations."

Referring to infringement he mentioned an incident that Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global) was exposed to, when a hacker created a website to blackmail the organization by using its exact brand name for a totally different purpose. Although the issue was resolved legally, it prompted TAG.Global to establish the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Department to become one of the 7 largest in the world for settling domain name disputes.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh revealed that he had previously called for a session to be held at the World Trade Organization to formulate a concept and a formula for Internet usage, but unfortunately, a final agreement was not reached, because the Internet is not governed by any system. He tried to establish a system for Internet governance as opposed to ownership, because its management and ownership are in the hands of the United States of America, but when the issue was raised, it was not accepted by the USA.

Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazale added: "The issue of protecting intellectual property rights on the Internet remains unresolved, and during my tenure at the United Nations, efforts were exerted in this regard, but they did not rise to the occasion and were not implemented as I had hoped."

He continued: "Now, we are in a new phase and under a new administration. I hope that a joint team will be established between the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization to discuss this issue, which has become urgent, especially in the time of terrorism when terrorists use the Internet to achieve some of their goals."

Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh touched on the importance of innovation and the reality of turning innovation into investment opportunities. He cited  p Google as an example: a company that does not sell goods or provide services, and its capital is entirely knowledge-based. Despite this, it is one of the largest companies in the world, and along with other large, knowledge-based companies has changed the concept and definition of commerce, where the advertiser is the one who pays.