If your community is anything like mine, your morning may have been marked by the rush of speeding flower-delivery trucks. Each was laden down with bouquets of blossoms, all headed to lawyers and law firms focused on intellectual property.

Today, you see, is World Intellectual Property Day (I’m sure I didn’t need to remind you).

Tonight, the saloons and restaurants will be packed with IP attorneys, heady with the day’s festivities. Voices will be raised in passion amidst the war stories of obviousness, and copyright, and publication; they will not be estopped.

So if you get the opportunity today, hug a patent lawyer and thank him or her for their work.

Certainly, I jest, for WIPD is a real and significant occurrence. I take this stuff pretty seriously, so before you ask: Yes, I did pay the royalty fee to publish that great cartoon above!

Here—in a more serious format—is what the Library of Congress tells us about the annual event:

Copyright Office Celebrates World Intellectual Property Day 2012

April 26 marks World Intellectual Property Day, an international celebration of the visionary innovation and creative expression fostered by the intellectual property system. The U.S. Copyright Office joins the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), its Member States throughout the world, and our colleagues across the U.S. government in celebrating the significant contributions of authors and other creators to our global society.

We are fortunate to live in a culture that values the talent and dedication of writers, composers, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, artists, producers and other authors. As the Supreme Court has noted: “The immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a fair return for an ‘author’s’ creative labor. But the ultimate aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for the general public good.” Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 156 (1975).

We also live in an age of great technological innovation. This not only affects the ways in which authors may disseminate creative works and consumers may enjoy them—it affects the very means by which works are created and knowledge is accessed. And it calls for a robust legal framework for the 21st century—a framework by which authors are respected, investments (both intellectual and financial) are encouraged, enforcement measures are responsive, and limitations and exceptions are meaningful.

For more information about copyright law, please visit our website at www.copyright.gov. To learn more about WIPO, visit www.wipo.int.