Commercial Diplomacy training – AIM-IT and ITCD partnership programming

  The Institute for Trade and Commercial Diplomacy (ITCD) organized a 12-days training program in collaboration with International Executive Service Corps and USAID presented by industry expert Ralph Oman of Dechert, LLC, Washington D.C. The conferences brought together people from the private and public sectors as well as people from the legal profession, academia, the media, non-governmental organizations and trade associations to discuss subjects related to trade including Lebanon’s potential 2008 accession to WTO. The discussions outlined the importance of IPR protection and basics of the WTO TRIPS in addition to relevant issues amongst copyright owners and users, software/hardware industry, broadband ISP and telecom, e-business and e-government, TV/DVD broadcasting and music production, printing and publishing.

  The participants also discussed problems related to pirating of computer software source codes its negative effect regarding innovation.

  Attorney Rany Sader, managing partner of Sader & Associates, and representing the Lebanese Intellectual Property Association (LIPA) gave a presentation on publishing and e-publishing, during which he discussed practical cases regarding the problems facing this important sector and the suggestions to overcome them.

  (Beirut, 2th of August 2007)