South-East Asia

On 25 March 2021, the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM) and the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), in partnership with IP Key South-East Asia (SEA), organised a ‘Workshop on Intellectual Property in Performing Arts’ in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop provided a platform for exchanges from more than 40 performing art practitioners, varying from directors and playwrights to university students.

If you are what you eat, and bad diets lead to bad health, imagine what unsafe medicines can do.

We ask today, why the provenance of vaccines has attracted so much attention when the origin of medicines we take, in some cases, every day and without even thinking, is not questioned at all? How do we know we can trust medicines readily available on the market from seemingly legitimate sources? Where does intellectual property (IP) come into all of this and why is a proper IP application and registration process important?

This activity supports the integration of SEA IP offices in the EUIPO global databases, which assure the accessibility of updated information on trade marks (TMview) and industrial designs (DesignView) for the benefit of IP stakeholders worldwide. The countries targeted for integration are Indonesia (TMview and DesignView), Malaysia (DesignView), Singapore (TMview and DesignView), Thailand (DesignView and TMclass), and Vietnam (TMview and DesignView).

To underline the importance of trade secrets as a form of intellectual property rights and the benefits businesses can gain from having their trade secrets protected, IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) organised the ‘Webinar on Trade Secrets’ on 26 March 2021. The webinar raised awareness on the protection of trade secrets in the EU and in the SEA region and the remedies business owners use should their trade secrets be misappropriated.

IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) Project organised a ‘Legal Training on UPOV 1991’ on 17 and 18 June 2021. Plant variety protection and intellectual property officials underwent a training on the legal provisions of the UPOV 1991 Convention. The training was delivered by experts from the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

On 10 and 11 June 2021, IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) organised ‘Webinars on Plant Variety Protection and UPOV 1991’. This online event is a follow-up to the webinar series organised by the IP Key SEA in collaboration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and with the cooperation of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in November 2020.

As a follow-up to the support provided by IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) Project on the drafting of trade mark guidelines, the project will organise virtual technical meetings with Trade Mark Examiners of Indonesia, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Thailand on 24, 25 and 28 February 2022. The training sessions will clarify any doubts or questions the users may have regarding the guidelines. The technical meeting will also ensure that the interpretation and application of the guidelines is consistent.

Following the drafting of the Trade Mark Examination Guidelines of the DirectorateGeneral of Intellectual Property (DGIP) Indonesia and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), promotional and training materials will be developed for the IP offices for internal users (examiners and legal officers) and external users (IP attorneys and applicants). This activity aims to promote the use of the guidelines and their consistent application in the examination work of the trade mark examiners.

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