IPR Week to Focus on Cross Border Challenges, Cooperation

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Amid the rise of cross border issues in intellectual property (IP), the program line-up for this year’s IP Week Celebration, to run from 26 to 30 October, puts focus on the regional and international challenges and cooperation relating to IP protection, enforcement and adjudication.

To open this year’s IP Week celebration is the 5th Philippine Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit on 26 October at the Marriot Hotel in Pasay City. With the theme “Building Cooperation Across Borders,” the Summit is organized by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the National Committee on IP Rights (NCIPR), the multi-agency taskforce on IP enforcement.

To supplement the presentations and discussions on the latest issues and developments in the Philippine IP enforcement, the organizers have invited foreign speakers to discuss the pressing issues in global IP enforcement and share their respective country experience on the topic. They are Mr. Hideyuki Morooka of the Japan Patent Office; Mr. Nam Ngo Thien, IPR Attaché for South-East Asia of the Embassy of France in Singapore; Mr. Louis Bonnier and Atty. Jean-Pierre Maeder of the Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP); Mr. Cha Tae-won of the Korean Copyright Commission; Mr. Etienne Sanz de Acedo of the International Trademark Association; Mr. Man F. Tse of the National Intellectual Property Rights Center, USA; Mr. Ignacio de Medrano Caballero of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market; and Mr. Maysa Razavi of the International Trademark Association.

The Summit will also feature the awarding of this year’s IP Champions, a recognition given to the partner individuals and institutions in IP enforcement of the NCIPR and the oath-taking of the newest batch of the Young IP Advocates, an annual IP workshop for students from selected secondary schools.

On 27-28 October, there will be a Roundtable Discussion on “Issues and Concerns Relating to IPR Enforcement,” to be held at the New World Makati. The event is organized by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Philippine Judicial Academy, in partnership with the IPOPHL and the EU-ASEAN Project on the Protection of IP Rights (ECAP III Phase 2). This is designed to serve as a venue for sharing experiences and best practices with the end goal of enhancing the capacity of the judges on the efficient, effective, and expeditious disposition of IP cases.

The topics for the roundtable include the International and Legal Frameworks of IP Enforcement; IP Violations in Anti-Money Laundering; IP and Digital and Internet Piracy and Cybercrime; Challenges and Best Practices in Judicial Proceedings of IP Cases; and discussions on selected Philippine and international IP enforcement cases.

On 29-30 October, the Philippines will host the “ASEAN Regional Meeting on IP Enforcement,” an event that is funded by the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) project on the protection of IPRs.

This will be attended by delegates from the IP Offices in ASEAN. The presentations will touch on topics that are relevant to the ASEAN IP Offices such as cross-border enforcement and customs enforcement of IP.