Since 2000, 26 April has been World Intellectual Property Day, coinciding with the date of entry into force of the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) in 1970. It is therefore a day of reflection on the importance of intellectual property as an incentive for innovation, cultural creation, and economic growth.
We are in a time of profound change. The digital transformation, accelerated by the pandemic, is testing the classic intellectual property systems and their capacity to adapt to an ever-changing environment. While the courts continue to interpret concepts that are essential for the development of any digital business model, the legislator is busy (and concerned) with regulating the new models and surviving those that are becoming obsolete, such as physical distribution. These issues, with a forward-looking approach, are the focus of this report.
ECIJA, as one of the leading full-service firms in the Spanish market in TMT, Intellectual Property and Data Protection, wanted to commemorate this day by reviewing the most important milestones in intellectual and industrial property matters that have taken place in the last year, as well as trends in each of the 16 countries in which we have offices and other territories of legislative relevance in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.