IP Key LA and SEA will support the Worldwide Symposium on Geographical Indications organized by WIPO and the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). The activity will provide an opportunity for participants from SEA and LA countries to gain insights on the need to improve the existing systems to better protect and control GIs, as well as how the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications could benefit their respective countries and GI producers in the long term.

The IP Key Southeast Asia (SEA) Project has been providing technical expertise in  support to the drafting of the Trademark Examination Guidelines of the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IP Viet Nam).  Trademark experts were dispatched by the IP Key SEA Project to IP Viet Nam in February in preparation for the drafting of the Trademark Guidelines, which will be submitted to the office within the month of June.

IP Key South-East Asia has supported the participation of high-level intellectual property (IP) officials in charge of Geographical Indications (GIs) in the 2019 edition of the Worldwide Symposium on Geographical Indications and in the GI Study Visit held on 02-04 and 05-06 July, respectively.

In IP Key LA’s 2018 work plan, Trade Mark and Design examination practices were the focus of two sub-regional workshops implemented in Central America and the Andean Region – where offices of all Latin America participated. This facilitated discussions on EU and Latin American best practices, in the examination of trade marks and designs by IP Offices.