Holy See diplomat addresses intellectual property rights

September 28, 2011

Intellectual property is a right with a “social mortgage,” the Holy See’s chief envoy to UN institutions in Geneva said at a conference on intellectual property rights.

“In this and in other fora, the Holy See has argued that intellectual property deserves protection since it creates incentives for innovation,” Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, permanent observer of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, said at a meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization. “Such protection, however, must be tempered to allow the spreading of the benefits of innovation as widely as possible,” he added, referring to “the difficulty faced by more than 284 million visually impaired people worldwide, about 90% of whom live in developing countries.”

Archbishop Tomasi also called for legal protection of folklore and “biological environment” of indigenous communities.

 

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Further information:

• Archbishop Tomasi: intellectual property in service of common good (Vatican Radio)