Senior Southeast Asian IP officials discuss new IP tools with EU counterparts
The directors-general and other senior officials from the Southeast Asian intellectual property (IP) offices discussed a range of new IP tools during a forum with European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) representatives held in Geneva on 26 September.
In a roundtable discussion, the continued integration of IP tools and databases, management strategies for implementing new services and key priorities for industry were some of the items considered to improve service delivery for businesses operating in Southeast Asia. Current capacity-building needs and partnership opportunities between the Southeast Asian IP offices were discussed in the context of the EU-funded IP Key SEA and ARISE+ IPR programmes, including further exchange of best practices in the field of IP, strengthening of IP enforcement capacities, studies on the impact of IP on national economies, and IP dialogues, among others.
It was reconfirmed during proceedings that Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Lao PDR would integrate data into the global trade mark and design search databases, TMview and Designview. TMview and Designview are the premier tools for conducting global searches of trade marks and industrial designs, respectively, and are widely used by IP rightsholders and legal practitioners. The databases were developed by the EUIPO, in conjunction with its European and international partners.
The Director General of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) of Indonesia, Freddy Harris, commented, “The addition of the Indonesian data further consolidates the usefulness of the TMview and Designview databases, making them the go-to resource for rights holders and IP practitioners.”
The Director General of the Brunei Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO), Shahrinah Yusof Khan, acknowledged the significance of joining TMview and Designview. “The inclusion of the trade marks and industrial designs data of Brunei Darussalam will allow our office to have a wider reach in terms of making available updated and accurate information on trade marks and designs protected in our country,” she said.
Director General of the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of Lao PDR, Khanlasy Keobounphanh, said, “The integration of our local databases into these international platforms will make Lao PDR’s trade marks and industrial designs data easily accessible to both domestic and international stakeholders. Being part of the global TMview and Designview databases will raise the profile of Lao PDR in the international IP community.”
Earlier, EUIPO Acting Executive Director Christian Archambeau noted the significance of the occasion. “The meeting today continues the European Union commitment to support our partners in Southeast Asia in building stronger intellectual property protections and services in the region,” he remarked.
TMview currently contains over 51 million trade marks from 67 IP offices around the world, while Designview contains approximately 14 million designs from 67 participating offices. Both multilingual databases are free to use, accessible online and available 24/7. They allow users to search for trade marks and designs in each and every one of the registers of the participating offices.
The forum coincides with the 58th Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO being held in Geneva on 24 September – 2 October.