Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Intellectual Property Rights Research and Application Center (FIMAUM) President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arzu Alibaba released a statement on “Why Intellectual Property Rights are Important and How They should be Protected” on 26 April World Intellectual Property Day. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alibaba included the following in her statement:
According to article 27 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, intellectual property rights are among the basic human rights. The economic, cultural and social development of countries depends on respect towards intellectual property rights. As of 2020, the value of the intangible assets of businesses such as patents and trademarks amounts to 90% of their total assets. Today, societies that do not adequately and sufficiently protect their intellectual property rights are bound to experience significant problems. For this reason, the creation of a culture regarding intellectual property rights is among the aims of our center. It is essential to protect intellectual property rights in order to increase the motivation for intellectual production and, thus, to ensure new and original production. In cases where adequate protection is not provided, the desire to produce, invent and innovate new products will decrease. Therefore, intellectual property right holders should be provided with the opportunity to register their intellectual products, so that in case of violation of the right, the right owner should be able to seek legal protection to ensure the protection of her/his right. The provision of all these depends on the preparation of the legal infrastructure, taking into account contemporary rules and principles.
