In the framework of the support to EU-CN Customs Action Plan, IP Key China organised, in cooperation with DG TAXUD, a study visit for a Chinese delegation (5 GACC representatives and Chinese Customs Officers) to the customs facilities of important EU seaports or airports, aiming at exchanging knowledge and experience on each other’s IPR enforcement policies and practices to develop new initiatives and strengthen the actual collaboration, as part of key action 5 of the CN-EU Action Plan.

IP Key China and the China Anti-infringement and Anti-counterfeiting Innovation Strategic Alliance (CAASA) co-hosted a two-day event in Haikou, China on 21 and 22 November 2019. This year’s event built on the theme of online counterfeiting and piracy, which was the focus of the IP Key China-CAASA conference held in November 2018. This year, the event featured presentations from the EU Delegation to China, the Ministry of Commerce, Alibaba, Tencent, Nike and other rights holders, enforcement authorities and law firms from the EU and China.

China’s Patent Law, which lays the foundation for the legal protection of inventions, was adopted in 1984, and amended three times in 1992, 2000 and 2008. In December 2018, a draft of the fourth amendment to the Patent Law was approved at the State Council level. In early January 2019, the National People’s Congress published the latest version of the draft amendment and issued a public call for comments, which the EU has subsequently responded to.

Designed and set up by IP Key China, the EU-China IP Academic Network (EUCIPAN) supports exchanges between EU and Chinese academia with a view to ensuring sustainable collaboration. It provides a steering group, research opportunities and an online platform (eucipan.org). A forum took place in Shanghai last year, followed on 21-22 October 2019 by a steering group meeting and the Fourth EU-China IP Academic Forum, both hosted by the University of Alicante. The forum included main sessions on:

On 9 to 19 September 2019, IP Key Southeast Asia is organizing the IP Enforcement Week 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand with a series of events geared towards IP policy-makers, IP officials, law enforcement authorities, IP stakeholders, and businesses in Southeast Asia.

EUIPO and IP Key LA organized this week-long technical workshop in Costa Rica as a follow-up to the workshops that took place in Cuba in December 2017, Costa Rica in June 2018 on search and classification tools and Lima in November 2018 on quality and productivity tools.

The workshop’s format included slots dedicated to facilitating the extension of the tools developed, according to the specific interests of each of the participating IPOs, enhancing the exchange of knowledge and experiences through sessions with a practical and technical approach.

In the context of a week-long Technical Workshop on Tools and Practices developed under the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN), organised by the EUIPO in San José, Costa Rica, IP Key LA co-hosted a Regional Workshop on Trade Mark and Design Examination Practices.

With lectures on the importance of Intellectual Property for SMEs, the protection of trademarks and, designs in Europe and the access to relevant information on industrial property, IP Key LA’s project leader Pedro Duarte provided information, experiences and useful resources for those involved in the registration, protection and defense of IP rights.