The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) in collaboration with the Radio and Television Institute (RTI) of Egypt’s National Media Authority are conducting a specialized training session on how to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), Digital Signature and cybercrime for media professionals. 

The training session is held under the auspices of Hussein Zain, Head of the National Media Authority, and Amr Mahfouz, ITIDA’s CEO and Assistant Minister for Growth and Development at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).

Dr. Khaled Fathallah, the Director of the Radio and Television Institute (RTI), and Engineer Mahfouz opened the training session, in the presence of Ahmed Abdel Ghani, Acting Manager of the IPR Office. The session was attended by more than 40 media figures, CEOs, and experts from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the European Union (EU), in addition to lecturers and Civil Code Professors. 

Dr. Khaled Fathallah stated this cooperation comes out of the institute's keenness to join forces with various state entities to stimulate the role of media in spreading the culture of intellectual property protection and digital transformation.

He added that the National Media Authority aims to support the Egyptian state through a consciously involved and advanced mass media that plays a vital role in the society. He pointed out that the Media Authority always instills motivation in its employees to constantly upgrade their skills through training, to keep up with global developments, and preserve the authority’s rights and artistic censorship. 

Engineer Amr Mahfouz said: "We are pleased to cooperate with the National Media Authority to raise awareness on intellectual property rights for media professionals, believing in their pivotal role in transferring and spreading knowledge”. Mahfouz stressed that the Media bears a social responsibility to raise public awareness on how to abide by copyright law and to protect intellectual creativity.

ITIDA pays great attention to intellectual property protection in the IT sector in addition to its role in innovation and technology startups, due to its role in driving economic growth and attracting investments. ITIDA expects in this regard that Egyptian startups will attract USD250 million worth of investments in 2021. 

Mahfouz added that ITIDA is willing to transfer its technical and practical expertise to raise the awareness of Media professionals in various fields of intellectual property and electronic signature. He noted: “We strive to strengthen our cooperation with the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, as it plays a leading role in providing building capacities to a large number of Egyptian media and radio pioneers following the latest methods of education and training.”.

The training program, held over two days, included a series of technical lectures on intellectual property in the new media world, how to extract digital forensics in intellectual property lawsuits; copyrights and related issues; piracy of encrypted digital content; trademarks, industry models, and technical standards for a standing legal title of a digital signature.