National intellectual property policy launched
A National Intellectual Property (IP) policy to protect local innovations and inventions was launched in Accra yestreday.
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The policy spells out the direction in which the country wants to drive its innovations such as kente clothes and shea butter production and protect them.
The implementation of the policy is also expected to generate revenue to help drive the economy.
To give more meaning to the implementation of the policy, Ghana, through the Ministry of Trade and Industries, also signed an agreement with Switzerland in Accra last Tuesday.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who launched the policy, said indigenous innovations were a major contributor to economic growth in many developed countries and, therefore, there was the need for Ghana to emulate the example and protect its own.
He said knowledge and inventions were key to economic success in global economies and provided a source of competitive advantage for enterprises, industries and companies.
Inventions and innovations
“Innovation is also the major source of improvements in the quality of our material life. It is through innovation that we are able to overcome many of the challenges that confront our society. Our capacity to improve health outcomes, especially in relation to new threats, depends on innovation in drugs and treatments,” Dr Spio-Garbrah stated.
He added that the country’s ability to ensure food security would depend on innovation in new plant varieties with higher yields and better characteristics of drought and pest resistance.
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He said the government recognised IP rights as a powerful catalyst within national economies and, therefore, would continue to look for opportunities to modernise and strengthen the systems for the protection, administration, promotion, commercialisation and enforcement of such rights.
Ghana, he said, had the potential of establishing new brands for fruits, cocoa, beans and shea butter for export and a strong and balanced IP rights system that encouraged technology transfer, research and development and the building of local brands would have a positive impact on the economy.
Laws on IP
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, in an address, said the country had over the years indicated its commitment to the protection of IP rights by enacting several laws which included the Trade Marks Act, 2004 (ACT 664), Copyrights Act, 2005 (Act 690) and the Patents Act 2003, Act (657).
She said laws relating to traditional knowledge and genetic resources, as well as plant variety protections, were also being enacted.
A policy on IP rights, she said, would help to clearly spell out the direction in which the country wanted to drive its innovations.
“The introduction and implementation of this policy will require that as a country we will begin to do things differently, especially because this policy offers a new direction to follow,” she added.
For his part, the Switzerland Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gerhard Brugger, said the goal of the policy was to strengthen the management of IP rights in the country.
Writer's email:
rebecca.quaicoe-duho @graphic.com.gh