On 27 and 28 September 2016 a National Seminar on Intellectual Property Education and Training took place at the Westminster International University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in cooperation with the Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The guest expert speakers were Dr Ivan Bliznets, Rector of the Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property, Ms Martha Chikowore, Training Officer of the WIPO Academy, and Dr Andreas Rahmatian from the University of Glasgow School of Law. Dr Rahmatian’s four talks concentrated on the regional (European) perspective of building an intellectual property system for innovation and creativity and the (limited) role of copyright in promoting creativity, capacity building and training needs, and, first and foremost, designing and delivery of curricula and course materials for general and specialist intellectual property law courses for future lawyers and non-lawyers. The talks were translated simultaneously and expertly into English and Russian, respectively.
The talks on teaching and course design were met with great excitement by the delegates. In Uzbekistan teaching of intellectual property is less well advanced at the moment but there is a great interest in expanding this area in relation to teaching and research. Apart from the legal profession, there is a training need for non-lawyers in intellectual property, especially in patent law for patent attorneys. Dr Rahmatian also gave two interviews for a TV station and a radio station in Uzbekistan on the theme of the conference which underlines the interest of the general public in intellectual property.
Well, and there was the excellent hospitality and conviviality of the hosts, the lively and engaging conversations in English, Russian, Uzbek, German (and translations), and the wonderful and copious food – all that made the days of the conference very short and the whole event thoroughly enjoyable. There are plans about a sequel and a possible further collaboration between the organisations and the guest speakers...
~ Andreas Rahmatian (Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law)