世界知识产权组织总干事 伊德里斯
世界知识产权日正迅速地深入人心。从八年前世界知识产权日创立以来，越来越多的政府和组织加入到我们的行列中来，在每年4月26日这一天，与世界知识产权组织一道，共同庆祝这一年一度的节日。
普通大众或许会有这样的疑惑：知识产权真的值得我们如此隆重的庆祝吗？他们会问：与如何防止全球变暖这样重大的现实问题，以及在今年举行的奥林匹克运动会上，给他们所支持的运动员加油助威这样使生活多姿多彩的事情相比，版权、专利、工业设计和商标这些知识产权范畴的东西有什么值得纪念的呢？而我们的回答是，没有知识产权的保护，许多用来解决全球变暖问题的新的科学技术就不会诞生，那些使我们感到愉悦并团结起来的体育活动的盛况，也不可能传播到世界每个角落。
在世界知识产权日这一个特殊的日子里，我们不仅仅纪念人类创新精神的伟大力量，同时还纪念知识产权，正是它帮助我们引导创新，并给予创新源源不断的力量。知识产权也因此成为经济、文化和社会发展的重要推动力量。
人类的天才智慧不断地推动着人类的进步，从第一辆汽车的发明，到自由地在天空中旅行，再到最新一代清洁能源科技的发展；从洞穴中的壁画，到纸的发明，再到互联网的诞生。不断进步的科技使得撑杆跳运动员能够跳得更高、橄榄球运动员能够将球抛得更远、成千上万的普通人能够享受到前人所无法想象的高品质生活。世界知识产权组织正致力于使知识产权成为不断推动人类创造和创新的动力，使每一个国家和社会的人民都能享受到知识产权所带来的方便和利益。
因此，在世界知识产权日这一天，我们将向所有的发明家和艺术家表示感谢，感谢他们创造性的思想和创新思维给人类生活所带来的多姿多彩的内容。同时我们也应谨记，他们通过个人和集体的智慧所应享受到的知识产权，也理应得到我们的尊重和保护。
World IP Day 2008 - A Message from Director General Kamil Idris
World Intellectual Property Day is rapidly growing in popularity. Since its launch, eight years ago, increasing numbers of governments and organizations are joining WIPO in the annual celebrations on 26 April.
The man or woman in the street might wonder just what makes intellectual property worth all this effort. What, they might ask, do the workings of copyrights, patents, industrial designs or trademarks have to do with the really big issues, like how to stop global warming; or with the things that add spice to life, like watching their favorite athletes perform in this year’s Olympics? The answer is that, without intellectual property rights, many new technologies developed to tackle global problems would never see the light of day and the great sporting events, which entertain and unite us, would not be broadcast into homes across the globe.
On World Intellectual Property Day we are celebrating not only the enormous power of human creativity, but also the intellectual property rights that help to fuel and channel it, making it such an important driving force for economic, cultural and social development.
The ingenuity of our species has propelled us from the invention of the first wheel, to effortless air travel and the latest generation of clean fuel technologies. It has led us from the creation of drawings on a cave wall, to the printing press, and on to the Internet, which puts the world literally at our fingertips. It has given us technical advances which allow pole-vaulters to soar ever higher, footballers to shoot ever further and millions of ordinary people to have a level of well-being which would have been unimaginable only a few generations ago. WIPO is committed to using intellectual property as a means of harnessing and spreading the power of human creativity and innovation so that the people of every country, of every community, can share in their bounty.
And so, on World Intellectual Property Day, we pay tribute to the inventors and artists, great and small, who enrich our existence with the fruits of their innovative thoughts and creative vision. And we remember why it is that their intellectual property rights, the rights that they have earned through their individual and collective talents, deserve our admiration, our protection, and our respect.
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