The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a seminar on Copyright and Neighboring Rights in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy & Trade and the Ministry of Justice from September 6 - 8, 1999 at the Palace of Justice, Beirut, Lebanon.

The seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Naser Al-Saeedy, the Minster of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Mr. Roberto Castelo the WIPO Vice Director General. Foremost among the participants were an elite of officials, specialists, intellectual property practitioners, judges, university professors, lawyers and representatives of the private sector.

The 3-day seminar dealt with the following topics:

1.International protection of copyright and neighboring rights.

2.Role of copyright collective administration associations.

3.Basic concepts of copyright and neighboring rights.

4.TRIPs enforcement of copyright and neighboring rights.

5.Enforcement under the Lebanese copyright and neighboring rights Law.

6.Lebanese collection administration associations.

7.Past and future of the Lebanese experience.

8.Current problems in judicial procedures.

9.Current problems in Audio-visual Works in the judicial procedures.

10.WTO's dispute resolution mechanism.

11.Protection of copyright on the Internet.

The recommendations of the Seminar were as follows:

1.Continuation of WIPO assistance to Lebanon.

2.Joint WIPO - Lebanese efforts to spread awareness of copyright and neighboring rights and intellectual property.

3.WIPO - Lebanon co-ordination in reviewing laws to comply with the requirements of the TRIPs Agreement.

4.WIPO assistance to Lebanon in drafting laws of intellectual property aspects not protected at present.

5.WIPO assistance to upgrade the Lebanese Intellectual Property Office.

6.WIPO - Lebanon co-ordination in training programs for officials who will enforce intellectual property laws in Lebanon.

7.Introducing intellectual property studies to Lebanese Universities for enhancing public awareness.

8.Requesting WIPO to start training sessions in the Lebanese Judges College.

9.WIPO - Lebanon co-ordination on organizing meetings and preparing studies on new intellectual property topics like folklore protection, E-trade, informatics and information technology.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property Bulletins

For further information you make also like to view the Intellectual Property Bulletins published monthly by The Abu-Ghazaleh Group.