IP Hall of Fame 2006

In 2005 a panel of 18 internationally acknowledged IP experts was recruited from industry, the law and academia in order to select the first inductees into the IP Hall of Fame. The experts were each asked to choose five individuals who they felt merited a place and to explain why. A shortlist was then drawn up from which the first inductees were selected.

The first 23 inductees into the IP Hall of Fame, named in February 2006, included two US presidents, a Japanese prime minister and one of France's greatest authors. Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were honoured for their insistence that IP rights be specifically safeguarded by the US Constitution, while Korekiyo Takahashi was recognised as the founding father of Japan's patent system. Victor Hugo was nominated as a prime mover behind the creation of the Berne Convention on Copyright, which to this day helps safeguard the rights of authors and other copyright owners in over 150 countries. Other inductees included the great American inventor Thomas Edison and Sir Edward Coke, a 17th century English courtier who played a pivotal role in the foundation of modern patent rights.

For background information on the IP Hall of Fame 2006 inductees, hover over an individual's photograph and then click on the larger image that appears.