On the occasion of the day or month of women, I want to make this review of what has been the evolution of women in this branch of law and nuance it with my personal experience, which surely can serve some reader, who either already chose for her activity the profession of lawyer and with it intellectual property; or is an author, inventor, or simply curious about what has happened in this matter from a female perspective.
I start with a brief description of Intellectual Property (IP), according to wikipedia “Intellectual property refers to an economic and cultural asset that includes intangible products, as well as physical products, recognized in most legislations of the countries and subject to economic exploitation by the legal holders of such property”. I like more, how the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO defines it, as everything that the human mind produces, such as patents (inventions), trademarks, copyrights, among others. All the creations of the “intellect”. With which IP is crucial for our economy since it encourages innovation and creativity, while providing legal protection to the holders of these rights over intellectual creations.
Since always, men and women have been those who with their creativity have driven the development of humanity with the state of science through their inventions and inventions. Likewise in art, through artistic, literary, audiovisual works, and no less important, industrial models and designs, trademarks, trade secrets. However, the contribution in these fields of IP has not been equitable and there is a much lower participation of women in them. According to WIPO, only 17.7% of the inventors who appear in the PCT patent applications (Patent Cooperation Treaty) in 2023 are women, this figure has been increasing but not at the desired speed, apparently until 2077 we will not be able to count on gender parity in the field of inventors.
Within the legal field and the lawyers specialized in intellectual property, I can comment that when I studied the Law School, there was no Intellectual Property within the curriculum, not even as an elective subject. In fact, the firms in Ecuador that did Intellectual Property had all male lawyers in this specialization and many were not lawyers but “trademark and patent agents” a figure that the Trademark Law of that time allowed it. Currently, the universities of Ecuador already have this subject within the law career and many offer postgraduate programs for this specialization. In the professional practice in our country, we are many women lawyers dedicated to Intellectual Property, and I am pleased to be part of the 3 Ecuadorians within the ranking 2024 of the Top 250 most influential women of Intellectual Property in the world. (IP STARS TOP 250 WOMEN IN IP 2024)
At present we are observing more and more women holding leadership positions in areas related to Intellectual Property, partners of firms, CEOs of technology, mining, oil, research companies, reflecting a greater trend towards gender equality in these fields that were essentially of men. The diversity and inclusion policies in the companies are allowing the leadership of women to be recognized in all industries. In the future, it is expected that this trend will increase with education and training programs for girls and women especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and training professional women to make up at least 30% of the boards of directors of companies. Finally, the implementation of public policies that promote equal opportunities and the elimination of structural barriers will contribute to a more inclusive and equitable environment in the field of intellectual property.
Author: Margarita Romero Rosales IP Expert and Partner
