Greenwashing strong IP rights

Apparently next Sunday is World IP day and for this year the bright minds at WIPOs communication department have come up with an extra clever slogan: Innovate for a Green Future! This is an almost text book example of greenwashing: Associate your product with the current societal focus on all things green. In the case of IP rights a direct association is a bit tenuous hence the detour via “innovation” (WIPOs favorite proxy for string IP rights although that correlation is highly questionable in itself).

In order to celebrate World IP day WIPO would like everyone to make a pledge to support innovation for a green future and add that pledge to a map. While this whole attempt to greenwash strong IP rights would be rather silly under normal circumstances it really makes you question WIPOs priorities. Seems to me there are much more urgent things to do like ensuring that strong IP rights do not stand in the way of making finding and distributing answers to the current health emergency. In this light it would make much more sense for WIPO to promote the open COVID pledge, which - in full respect of IP rights - is designed to ensure that finding answers to the current crisis are not hampered by strong IP rights.