Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kujtim Shala, took part in the conference "Intellectual Property Rights" which was organized on World Intellectual Property Day, the Industrial Property Agency, MTI; Office of Copyright and Rights Përafërta- MCYS; Intellectual Property Section of the Kosovo Customs, Market Inspectorate of MTI; Kosovo police.
World Day of Intellectual Property is marked worldwide on 26 April and is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of property rights intellectual, and their role in supporting creativity and innovation. Minister Shala in his speech at the opening of the conference said: "Creativity and Innovation are two very important components of culture, namely the economy, especially now that the cultural and economic development is advanced and global economy and digital products have passed the state border, where knowledge and inventions we follow the surround every moment of our lives". Further, Minister Shala said that "intellectual property is of great importance for the development and advancement of culture, science and technology, the fact that copyright and other rights of intellectual property tool development are cultural, scientific and economic development " and added "Kosovo institutions through the promotion and support of intellectual creativity, creativity and innovation, we want to promote the economic development of our country". "The work done by the MCYS in the field of copyright and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the field of industrial property rights in Kosovo has created a consolidated system of intellectual property based on international conventions and European directives in the field ", he continued.
Minsiter Shala announced that Kosovo is now fully prepared to accede to the World Intellectual Property. And in addition, in his speech, Minister Shala stressed the need to protect creativity, copyright, creators and inventors, because thus protect and promote cultural creativity, innovation, creative industries and the economy in general, adding that "the protection of copyright today, means protection of our culture, and tomorrow is the protection of cultural heritage . Therefore, we are determined to work hard to reduce the level of piracy and to create conditions where originality and creativity are respected and protected". In order to raise awareness about the role and importance of intellectual property, MCYS has built a legal infrastructure for copyright and related rights, the Law on copyright and related rights, which is now in the Parliament in the process of amendment in order to be fully harmonized with EU directives . Also approved laws for the regulation of collective management and regulation of the mediation process, and are licensed two associations for collective management of copyright. Also, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo has sanctioned violation of copyright. Finally, the Government approved a concept paper to regulate the right to special compensation. Minister Kujtim Shala, at the end of his speech at the conference, encouraged the main Intellectual Property institutions to continue the good work in this field.