Making Sense of Intellectual Property Law

Rakibul Hasan

Among the Bangladeshi students, who often prefer to buy the pirated books for their attractive and affordable prices, listen to music from pirated CDs and download movies from the internet, the concept of intellectual property right is somewhat new! To sensitise the students about the effective implementation and protection of Intellectual Property laws, Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property Forum and University of Dhaka jointly organised an interactive session with the students on January 7, 2012 at the Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka.

Members of Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property at the session. Courtesy: DU

The session entitled 'Intellectual Property Law: Perspective Bangladesh' was participated by students and faculty members from University of Dhaka and representatives from concerned international organisations and government ministries. The list of distinguished experts and officials who addressed the session included Dr Rafiqullah Khan, Professor, Department of Bengali, University of Dhaka, Sharifa Khan, Director, WTO Cell, Ministry of Commerce, Kazi Zahin Hasan, Chairman, Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property Forum, A B M Hamidul Mishbah, Secretary, Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property Forum and Tamanna Faiz, Public Relations and Communications, Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property Forum. The programme was moderated by Arif Zamil, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka.

Speakers at the session stressed on complete implementation of Intellectual Property law for the sake of foreign investment in Bangladesh and protection of individual creativity. Sharifa Khan, Director, WTO Cell, Ministry of Commerce said, “It is high time for Bangladesh to have a fully instrumental Intellectual Property Law. The acts regarding copyright and patents have not been implemented fully, yet.” Commenting on the need for awareness among the law students about Intellectual Property laws, she opined, “The students studying law should be more conscious about Intellectual Property Rights and Law. In future, Bangladesh will need able lawyers in the field of Intellectual and Industrial Property, as there is a lack of practicing lawyers in this field. Moreover Bangladesh has ratified different international trade agreements of which intellectual and industrial provisions are a significant part, and to get a better understanding of these provisions, students need to be aware of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Laws both at home and abroad.”

Throughout the session students interacted with the experts and representatives of different concerned organisations by raising questions and expressing their opinions on issues regarding implementation and applicability of Intellectual Property Law in Bangladesh. While some emphasised on the implementation of such law as a requirement to attract investments from a range of multinational brands in different sectors, some students also argued that implementation of Intellectual Property Law may result in increasing the price of certain products which would be unaffordable by a large portion of people in Bangladesh. Sobuj Sheikh, a student from the Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka shares, “ We need to take our national economy to a certain stage for the successful implementation of Intellectual Property Law. There should be a plan to improve the economic condition of the general public so that people get encouraged to buy the original quality products rather than the pirated ones.”

A B M Hamidul Mishbah, Secretary, Bangladesh Copyright and Industrial Property Forum says, “The student community is one of the largest users of intellectual properties, using these products for both professional and personal purposes. Through interactive seminars like these we get to know about the perceptions of the young and student community, who have raised crucial issues regarding the successful implementation of Intellectual Property Law in Bangladesh.” The interactive session concluded with the hope of conducting more awareness programmes like this in future.

DID YOU KNOW?

Sir Ian McKellen

Actor Ian Murray McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashir, England, though he spent most of his early life in Wigan. Born shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the experience had some lasting impact on him. In response to an interview question when an interviewer remarked that he seemed quite calm in the aftermath of the September 11, he said: "Well, darling, you forget I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old." McKellen attended Bolton School (boys division), of which he is still a supporter, attending regularly to talk to pupils. McKellen's acting career started at Bolton Little Theatre, of which he is now the patron. An early fascination with the theatre was encouraged by his parents, who took him on a family outing to Peter Pan at the Opera House in Manchester when he was three. When he was nine, his main Christmas present was a wood and bakelite, fold-away Victorian theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatre, with cardboard scenery and wires to push on the cut-outs of Cinderella and of Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. His sister took him to his first Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, by the amateurs of Wigan's Little Theatre, shortly followed by their Macbeth and Wigan High School for Girls' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with music by Mendelssohn and with the role of Bottom played by Jean McKellen (Ian's sister). He won a scholarship to St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, when he was eighteen. He has characterised it as "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited." He is mostly widely known to be Gandalf The Grey/ White from Lord Of the Rings and Magneto from X-Men to this generation.

Information source: Internet