To raise awareness around the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) and in conjunction with the national efforts, Dubai Customs launched its IPR Movie Award for private and public university students.

The award will help entice and encourage creativity among the students and spread the IP protection culture among society members. Dubai Customs will receive the participating projects as of 4th July 2021, and the focus will be on engaging as many participants in the award as possible to raise public awareness.

“We are keen that the new generation share the responsibility in raising awareness around protecting intellectual property rights,” said Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department. “Now the stage is theirs to create and innovate ideas on how to protect public health and environment from the hazards of counterfeited goods. The IPR Movie Award is the latest initiative that the IPR Department developed to encourage genuine creativity and raise awareness; thus, encouraging investors to spend on new products without being afraid of losing to illegitimate competition from counterfeiters.”

Mahbooba Baqer, Head of Awareness and Education Section added, “The Award has a clear and simple goal, which is to protect genuine ideas, products and innovations. New ideas, no matter how simple they are, are the foundation to develop societies. This will help also raise awareness and shed a light on Dubai Customs’ leading role in this regard. The IPR Department organised 46 initiatives and events last year that targeted 2,358 individuals, and in Q1 this year, we organised 12 events that targeted 1,394 individuals.

“Participation is open to every university student in the UAE, and the ideas must be genuine and new, and in high resolution and clear sound for easier publishing.”