On April 24, 2025, the "Moufdi Zakaria" Palace of Culture hosted a conference titled "Intellectual Property and Music: Innovation, Protection, and Opportunities," organized to mark the celebration of World Intellectual Property Day 2025.
Presided by the Minister of Culture and Arts, Zouhir Bellalou, the conference provided an opportunity to take a stock of the significant progress made by Algeria in the field of copyright and related rights and to outline the ambitions for the coming years. In his opening speech, the Minister reaffirmed that "the Algerian state places the protection of copyright at the heart of its priorities" and pays close attention to "the cultural economy and the empowerment of creators." He also announced several major initiatives, including the rehabilitation project of the "House of Artists" in the historical Kasbah district.
The Director of WIPO’s External Office in Algeria recalled the historical context of World Intellectual Property Day, emphasizing the role played by intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and copyrights in promoting innovation and creativity.
He precised that this year’s theme is “Intellectual Property and Music: Feel the Beat of Intellectual Property.” This theme celebrates music as a universal language and highlights how creativity and innovation, supported by intellectual property rights, help to maintain a dynamic music scene that benefits everyone around the world.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the National Office of Copyright and Related Rights (ONDA) underscored the importance of music as a "soft power and a vector for cultural rapprochement between peoples,” emphasizing ONDA’s role in preserving and promoting musical creation.
Participants also followed the broadcast of the Director General's Message on the occasion of World Intellectual Property
Day and a presentation of the CLIP platform (‘Creators Learn Intellectual Property’) by the WIPO Creators Consortium team.
Two roundtables were then held on:
- New economic models for music in the digital era;
- ONDA’s faces new challenges: digitization, collective management, and capacity building.
Several representatives from other sectors, including parliamentarians, along with about a hundred artists, musicians, and officials from the Ministry of Culture and Arts, took part in the celebration. On the sidelines of the conference, the Directors General of ONDA and the South African collective management organization for digital rights licensing (CAPASSO) signed a cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening bilateral collaboration on the legal protection of authors and musical works, as well as supporting major digital transformations.