World IP Day

Monday, April 26, marked World IP Day. In cooperation with the Property Rights Alliance (PRA), the Austrian Economics Center celebrated it by signing its annual coalition letter, addressed to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Director-General Daren Tang. Property rights benefit businesses, both big and small, start-ups or companies with a long tradition. This, in turn, enriches society as a whole.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cost us too much. As a response to the pandemic, several countries are lobbying at the WTO for abandonment of international IP protection (the TRIPS agreement). The day TRIPS is abandoned, the PRA alliance argues, many others would abandon even the minimum of IP protection there has been.

The Executive Director of the Property Rights Alliance Lorenzo Montanari explained the importance of IP by stating that “we stand with intellectual property rights because we support innovation, creativity, and a free-market economy. Today more than ever, international organizations and governments across the world need to promote policies that recognize IP rights as a key contributor to innovation and defeating COVID-19. Strong IP keeps us safe.”