Event on the occasion of the World Intellectual and Industrial Property Day

IP and Sports

As every year, we celebrated the World Intellectual and Industrial Property Day on April 26th with the intention of spreading the vital role that Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights (Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Copyrights…) play in the promotion of innovation and creativity. In this 2019 edition, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) wanted to pay tribute to the world of sports and the universal values that it encompasses: excellence, respect and fair play. Its motto: ‘Reach for Gold: IP and Sports’ emphasized the existing relation between sports and Industrial Property as well as the new challenges that may arise in this field.

The SPTO joined this initiative by programming different activities among which we would like to highlight an event held past April 29th and organized in cooperation with the Spanish High Council of Sports (CSD, by its Spanish acronym) and the General Direction of Cultural Industries and Cooperation of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports. During it, the importance that the Industrial and Intellectual Property rights have on the economic development and social welfare became absolutely clear. The meeting began with the visit to the itinerant exhibition ‘Reach for Gold: Intellectual and Industrial Property and Sports’ organized by the SPTO and composed of 6 panels that exposed a series of Patents, Trademarks and Industrial Designs related to the most popular sports disciplines: football, swimming, athletics, cycling and tennis. After it, the attendees had the opportunity of seeing the fascinating dance and sports performance ‘La Partida’, created by Vero Cendoya. The final touch was a lively Roundtable Colloquium ‘Más allá de la competición: escenarios de la propiedad intelectual e industrial en el deporte’ (‘Beyond competition: scenarios of the intellectual and industrial property in sports’) which analyzed the role that the Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights play in a sector where multiple actors with interrelated interests are concentrated.