Seminar Presented Concrete Examples of Benefits of IPRs to Domestics SMEs
Washington, DC . IIPI, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat with support from the Kenan Institute Asia, hosted a workshop dedicated to educating ASEAN government officials on the benefits of intellectual property rights and intellectual property enforcement for domestic industries. The workshop took place June 29-30, 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. Multinational companies as well as domestic corporations from ASEAN countries played active roles in the conference.
The audience for the event consisted of government officials responsible for intellectual property enforcement and domestic IP industry promotion from eight ASEAN nations and representatives of local ASEAN small and medium-sized businesses. Speakers include representatives from the USPTO, IIPI, the ASEAN Secretariat, the Kenan Institute Asia, US and Asian multinational companies and small and medium-sized businesses from ASEAN countries.
Topics discussed include identifying and leveraging intellectual property rights as entrepreneurial assets, effective exploitation of IPRs, strategies for protecting IP, enforcement of IPRs administrative, border, civil and criminal practices and procedures, franchising and licensing issues, brand management and protection issues, handling IPR issues in business transactions and national branding.
IPRs are critical to the economic growth of ASEAN nations and US industries doing business in ASEAN countries. The workshop provided concrete examples of the benefits of IPR protection and best practices on using IPRs to promote the development of domestic industries.