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At the launch of a book to climax this year’s World Intellectual Property Day in Accra, Mr Mantey emphasised the need for young people to understand the concept of intellectual property rights, particularly in this digital era.

“Intellectual property rights can link creators and inventors, and the past with their future. The youth in Africa are creative but it is sad that most of them are not able to monetise their creativity and their creative works do not end up as products of value in the future. Their creative and innovative ideas can propel them into prosperity; therefore, the need for protecting intellectual property rights in the digital era cannot be overemphasised. The next phase of life would be ruled by intellectual property law, a lot of people are specialising in land, and other areas, I encourage others to also specialise in Intellectual Property Law,” he stated.

A representative of the Minister for Environment, Science and Innovation, Prof. Paul Bosu, said a new generation of talented youths were solving the problems of today, therefore, it was imperative for creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to understand the basics of intellectual property and how to capitalise it to generate sustainable income.

Book launch
He lauded Mrs Sarah Norkor Anku, an Intellectual Property Attorney and a general legal practitioner, for coming up with a book on Intellectual Property Law.
“Information on intellectual property rights is too technical and unfriendly, luckily, the book will create awareness about the subject matter. “It projects intellectual property in a more acceptable manner, making it easier for young creative minds to navigate through,” he said.

The lead author, Mrs Anku, said the book was targeted at young minds and was intended to help them to achieve maximum benefits from their innovations.

“As a law firm that specialises in Intellectual Property Law and practice, we seek to contribute to the promotion of intellectual property rights by creating awareness. How can people find out about intellectual property rights if we don’t teach them,” she added.

The book titled 'Monetising your creativity: An Introduction to Intellectual Property' is presented in the form of a dialogue for easy understanding using the mythical character, Kwaku Ananse, to explain the otherwise unfriendly and abstract subject matter to readers.

She appealed to philanthropists, the public and other corporate bodies to get copies and donate to under-resourced students across the country.

“We are embarking on a project dubbed “Own a School” to reach our targeted readers in various parts of Ghana and Africa,” she indicated.
The book, co-authored by Mary Magdalene Onyinyechuwu Dotsey, Jerome Lavie, Benedicta Dzandu and Blessing Korle, provides information about the various types of intellectual property rights, how to protect creative works, explore various forms of intellectual property commercialisation and trending issues in the field such as block chains, among others.

Former Attorney General, Madam Betty Mould Iddirsu, expressed hope that the book would help creatives understand the pivotal role of intellectual property rights.

World Intellectual Property Day
The World Intellectual Property Organisation, an agency of the United Nations (UN) has set aside April 26 each year to mark World Intellectual Property Day.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Intellectual Property and Youth; Innovating for a Better Future”.