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.