AIPPI 43rd World IP Congress Convenes in Seoul
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On 20-23 October 2012, the 43rd World Intellectual Property Congress of AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property) was held in Seoul, South Korea.
Coinciding the 115th anniversary of the association, this congress attracted 1,500 plus delegates from more than 100 countries and regions, including 124 from mainland China, 21 from HK SAR, and 21 from Taiwan region. South Korean Prime Minister Mr. Kim Hwang-Sik, AIPPI President Mr. Kim Yoon-Bae, and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Deputy Director General Mr. James Pooley were present and delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.
With a view to achieve harmonisation of national IP laws for international IP protection, AIPPI holds the World IP Congress every alternate years to discuss certain identified IP-related issues of immediate interest, termed as “Questions”. Resolutions regarding the position of AIPPI toward the issues and proposed measures are reached on a consensus basis, and published subsequently to WIPO and national patent offices for consideration.
This congress studied four Questions, namely, use of prosecution history in post-grant patent proceedings; infringement of trademarks by goods in transit; the interplay between design and copyright protection for industrial products; and the relevance of traditional knowledge to intellectual property law. It also offered a number of workshops for exchange of ideas on hot topics and featured a mock patent trial of an IT case conducted by judges and lawyers from leading jurisdictions.
During the Exco session, the venue for the 47th AIPPI World IP Congress was decided by vote. China's Hangzhou outvoted five competitors and will serve as the host city for the event in 2020.
China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA)’s delegation to the congress (starting from left): Mr. Li Jialin, deputy director of CPA Shanghai office; Ms. Pong Lizhi, deputy manager of Chemistry Department at CPA Hong Kong office; Ms. Kathryn Fu, assistant general manager of CPA; Mr. Liu Dong, director of CPA Shanghai office
