With fewer than five weeks to go to the opening of the 2023 CIBJO Congress in Jaipur, India, on October 3, 2023, the sixth of the pre-congress Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Ethics Commission, headed by Tiffany Stevens, the report provides an overview of intellectual property (IP) rights in the jewellery industry, the means available for protecting them and how they differ from country to country.

The Ethics Commission Special Report was jointly written by Ms. Stevens and by Sara Yood, the Deputy General Counsel at the Jewellers Vigilance Committee in New York, where Ms. Stevens is President, CEO and Chief Counsel.

While many professionals are aware of the significance of intellectual property, challenges such as counterfeiting, enforcement complexities, and the need for better education persist, note Ms. Stevens and Ms. Yood.

“The jewellery industry is also subject to the same challenges every industry is facing with digital platforms, artificial intelligence and social media, providing growing avenues for infringement, which necessitate a proactive approach,” they write. “As the jewellery industry continues to evolve, addressing these challenges and fostering a culture of intellectual property law awareness and protection will be crucial for sustaining innovation and creativity.”

This year’s Ethics Commission Special Report is part of a comprehensive programme to educate the industry about Intellectual Property rights, undertaken by CIBJO in collaboration with the U.S.-headquartered Initiatives in Art and Culture and the Jewellers Vigilance Committee. In addition to the report, a three-part seminar series is being conducted, with the first seminar already having taken place during the IAC Conference in New York on July 18, 2023, and the second seminar scheduled to be held during the VicenzaOro jewellery show in Vicenza, Italy, on September 10, 2023. The third seminar will be conducted within the framework of the Ethics Commission session at the 2023 CIBJO Congress in Jaipur on October 4, 2023.

Both the seminar in Vicenza on September 10 and the Ethics Commission session in Jaipur will be live-streamed, and further details about will be released prior to the event. The first IP seminar at the IAC Conference can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Ethics Commission’s Special Report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.