http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/world_ip/2005/

http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/world_ip/2005/dg_message_05.html
From the above link, a message from the Dr. Kamil Idris<./i>,
Director General of WIPO
"World Intellectual Property Day is an occasion to reflect on how human creativity and innovation help provide a better world for everyone.
Our message this year, Think, Imagine, Create, is directed particularly towards young people.

Mankind’s capacity to create and to innovate is limitless. It is a fundamental, human resource with endless potential. Nowhere is this more apparent than in young people. No matter what country or community they are born into, the young share certain striking characteristics: Their curiosity about whatever is new, different, or novel. Their unfettered imagination. Their readiness to play and experiment – with everyday objects, with ideas, with technology. Their talent for finding unconventional solutions.

Our goal for World Intellectual Property Day and beyond should be to encourage young people everywhere to recognize the creator, the problem-solver, the artist within themselves. For innovation and creativity are the natural resources on which future prosperity depends. From the classrooms of today will come the entrepreneurs, the scientists, the designers, the artists of tomorrow.

WIPO is committed to promoting a culture in which young people can realize this potential. Through well-balanced IP systems and structures, WIPO seeks to help creators across the globe generate economic value from their creations, and so to contribute to the social, cultural and economic advancement of their own societies and of the wider world.

Think, imagine, create. These are words to inspire young people to follow their dreams to the fullest."
=======SNIP==============
So, how should websites worldwide "celebrate" April 26?

Should we darken our sites...should we carry a message more in line with freedom of digital media?

Suggesions?

Think, imagine, create...hey, they forgot to add "SUE"...

I think that concerned blogs and sites should come up with a unified statement about the draconian nature of the "Copyright Cartel" and their being antagonistic to the interests of Digital Consumers!
~CodeWarriorz Thoughgts

What ever happened to SONY's catch phrase..."RIP, BURN, PLAY"?

I like that one better...

well i'll drink a little more than usual or something

Send one of "Atomic Annie's" shells over to the RIAA and BPI.

Airmail, naturally.

"World Intellectual Property Day is..."

uh, the day of non-existance?

There is NO SUCH THING as "intellectual property."

Words are inadequate to convey my bitter disdain for the globally-orchestrated "intellectual property" scheme.
And I get so furious just even thinking about it that I almost become detached from self control. (I can't deal with it without becoming so pissed off in a way that compromises any rational effectiveness I might otherwise be able to muster. Sorry, Code, I won't be able to offer any suggestion.)

[departing from this thread for good]

"Mankind’s capacity to create and to innovate is limitless. It is a fundamental, human resource with endless potential."

If true, why do we need to artificially mandate an economic incentive? Do we need to make sure people get paid to breath, drink water and have sex?

Is it true that IP extremists, even the ones who visit this sight, have to pay for sex? Is that what this is really about?

These are tough questions, particularly for those who masturbate uncontrollably at thought of an iron clad grip on the flow of artistic expression and endless royalty checks.

Burn RIAA music CD's day!

"Mankind’s capacity to create and to innovate is limitless."

And yet, somehow, it pales in comparison to mankind's capacity to create corporations, steal those creations from the authors and creators, then accuse everyone in sight of being a pirate.

I don't see what the problem with "intellectual property" is. The problem is many of those that claim to defend it (wipo, riaa), are stifling innovation in the process. The last thing those organizations do is promote innovation/creativity.

I say someone come up with a statement about the fallacy of "intellectual property" (as opposed to real copyright rights, as envisioned and declared by founding fathers) that sites around the world can publish on their respective pages on April 26th...
sounds good 2 me!
==============>IconForge

theSherminator...as I understand it, from Code and others, the problem is partly with the "intellectual property" idea...an abstract involving digital entities, and not real, tangible, fixed property that can actually be stolen.

The examples I've read Code use would be like you had a car. Someone drives up to your car and uses a magical machine to make something that looks and drives like your car, which, although not really an exact COPY of your car, looks and works like it, and drives off.

You still have your original car, and the process they used to create a facsimile has not deprived you of the use or value of your car, nor diminished its value.

That is QUITE different from someone actually hotwiring your car and driving it off.

The intellectual property is taking the whole notion of copyright to the absurdity, almost like Aristotle and his transcendant forms idea
(see http://www.crystalinks.com/aristotle.html) in that, someone says that the IDEA of a car is theirs, and anything you create from that idea is a copyright infringement.

At least, that's my notion of the issue.

What they really mean is

Think, imagine, create, GET SUED.

I believe these people are so adamant about protecting something they did not create because...well, they did not create it. Someone else did.

The only proper way to celebrate is perhaps to review some of Thomas Jefferson's writings about inventions and intellectual creations. At least there needs to be some equal time. Maybe we could write letters to the editor in our towns. Better hurry. Only three more shopping days until World IP Day!

By BOYCOTTING the RIAA!!!!! The only proper way to celebrate !!!!!

IdeaForge,

I agree. There is a difference between copying and stealing. I've used the same example myself. My point is that there are people who say "ideas can't be property!!" and that's true, but not to the extent where copyright shouldn't exist, because it should. That's all my point is.. intelectual property itself is not bad.. it's the extent to which it's taken and the way that the laws that govern it are abused.

"The intellectual property is taking the whole notion of copyright to the absurdity"

I guess our definitions are different, because that doesn't really make sense to me. I see the RIAA, WIPO & friends taking copyright law/enforcement to absurdity in the name of intellectual property when the underlying motive is (duh) greed and control. If you run a business, go ahead and be greedy and try to create your own monopoly.. see if I care. I only care when you're allowed to get away with it.

Copyright law is the RIAA's means to further their ILLEGAL stranglehold on the market. That is what I have a problem with. Not the fact that copyright law exists or that "intellectual property" exists.

autodidact,

you mean WIPO's celebration isn't going to involve reading Thomas Jefferson's writings themselves? Some protectors of intellectual property they are...

Copynight is on the 26th. If you live in San Francisco, CA | Chicago, IL | Toronto, Ontario | Austin, TX | Raleigh, NC | Washington, DC | New York, NY | Cambridge, MA

you are urged to attend.

"WIPO's goal is to celebrate information-as-property, but we've got a better idea: meet people in your area who care about BALANCED intellectual property, not just more of it."

Great idea, Shmoo! Thanks for the link.

Anyone else in Chicago? I'm thinking of going.