The activity sought to promote UPOV 1991 accession of countries in SEA by supporting the creation of a regional platform that would reduce the administrative burden for EU breeders to apply for protection of their PVRs and improve the registration procedures in the participating countries. The activity took place on 18 January 2022. It was a closed session and participation was limited to PVP Officials from the SEA countries.

IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) Project, in collaboration with the Community Plant Variety Protection Office (CPVO), organised the ‘Webinar on Plant Variety Protection and UPOV 1991’ on Monday, 17 January 2022. This activity is a follow-up to prior activities on plant variety protection aimed at promoting effective plant variety protection systems in SEA in order to support the UPOV 1991 Act accession of countries in the region. The activity highlighted the benefits that PVP brings to socio-economic development and its contribution to agricultural sustainability.

The IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) Project welcomed participants to join the virtual “Conference on Trade Marks and Industrial Designs” on 10 and 11 February 2022. The Conference covered various topics of interest on trademarks and industrial designs, such as the impact of the pandemic on filings and IP office operations in SEA and the future of trademarks and designs in the light of technological advances and global challenges.

The IP Key South-East Asia project invited the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) stakeholders to the ‘Workshop on Geographical Indications for the Philippines’, as part of the technical support provided to SEA Countries in the enhancement of the GI system. This event was by invitation only.

IP Key SEA hosted ‘South-East Asia Conference on Collective Rights Management’ on 2 and 3 December 2021. The conference aimed to establish a platform of cooperation between the collective rights management organisations (CMOs) of the EU and national CMOs operating in the SEA countries. During the conference, EU and international best practices on the establishment, operation, and regulation of CMOs were shared, with a view to enhancing their transparency, accountability, and good governance.

‘Workshops on Advanced Prosecution for Patent Examiners’ were implemented in partnership with the European Patent Office (EPO) sought to continue sharing with the SEA patent offices the European best practices, procedures, tools, and databases in the prosecution of patent applications, to enable the SEA patent examiners to process patent applications in a manner consistent with international standards and with enhanced quality of results. The workshop targeting Malaysia took place during 29 November and 2 December 2021.

On 24 and 25 November 2021, IP Key SEA organised ‘Webinar for EU IPR Owners and Legal Practitioners on IPR Mediation in South-East Asia’. The webinar aimed to promote the use of IP mediation mechanisms as a viable alternative means of dispute resolution among the IPR owners and businesses operating in SEA. It sought to familiarize IPR stakeholders with the IP mediation procedures and requirements in each of the SEA countries, in order to encourage them to avail of such remedies that may facilitate the more expeditious resolution of IP cases.