Due to the current contingency, IP Key LA is organizing a virtual workshop with the EPO, to provide training on EPO examination practice in the field of biotechnology to selected examiners from nine IPOs: INPI Argentina, INPI Brazil, INDECOPI Peru, SIC Colombia, DNPI Uruguay, SENADI Ecuador, INAPI Chile, DINAPI Paraguay and SENAPI Bolivia.

As a result of the joint efforts of the National Directorate of Industrial Property under the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay (DNPI), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the EU-funded project IP Key Latin America (IP KEY LA), a Practice Paper concerning the examination of absolute grounds for refusal as regards figurative trade marks with purely descriptive words/expressions has been produced.

SMEs account for 99 % of all businesses in the European Union and Latin America. They are a key economic sector in both economies. According to the EUIPO and the OECD, in the last 8 years SMEs have created about 85 % of net new jobs and provided around two thirds of the total private sector employment in the EU. In Latin America, SMEs account for 67 % of employment.

IP Key SEA organized on 10 (Indonesia), 11 (Malaysia) and 12 (Thailand) June 2020 a video conference on the Exchange of Best Practices on Industry Voluntary Measures Against Online IPR Infringements. The virtual session aimed to find effective solutions and remedies to the problems that online IPR infringements can cause.