Latin America

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.

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.

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.