RP hosts fourth int’l confab for the first time

Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Pasay City – Dr. Manuel Desantes, Vice President of the European Patent Office (EPO), will arrive in Manila for the 4th Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Conference (HIPOC) 2007 on November 13 to 14, 2007 at the Peninsula Manila. This is the first time that the country will host the annual international conference through the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) in partnership with EPO. Other EPO officials that will attend the meeting include Niclas Morey, Head of the Asia Unit and Nicholas Kornig, Asia Co-operation Administrator.

Ms. Liew Woon Yin, Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS); Dr. Andy Noorsaman Sommeng, Director General of the Indonesian Intellectual Property Office; Mr. Kamel Mohamad, Director General of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) and; Tran Viet Hung, Director General, National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) Vietnam are some of the HIPOC delegates.

The conference with the theme “Addressing IP Needs of the Future” will build on the discussions in the 3rd HIPOC held last year in Singapore.

On November 13, Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr., Director General of IP Philippines, will preside over the first session as chair. During the session, which will tackle the future of intellectual property rights (IPR), Desantes will discuss the strategic renewal of patent offices.

Officials of HIPOC member organizations will likewise present strategies and perspectives from other trilateral offices and the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), namely Margaret Focarino, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); Hitoshi Amano, Director of the Intellectual Property Department, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Bangkok; Fatima Beattie, Deputy Director General, Intellectual Property Australia; Xing Shengcai, Deputy Commissioner, State Intellectual Property Office of China; Shri V. Ravi, Controller of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) – India; Tran Viet Hung, Director General, NOIP Vietnam and; representatives from the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office (NIPO).

In the second session, Dr. Jacques Michel, Consultant of the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) and former Vice President of EPO, will present a comparative assessment study of patent offices in Southeast Asia.

On November 14, presentations include the origins and objectives of the Regional Patent Technical Co-operation (RPTC) Project by Morey; RPTC studies by Johan Amand who is a consultant and former director of EPO and Mogens Baltsen who is the Head of the Patent Examination Section of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO).

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