SINGAPORE,
July 2 (Bernama)
-- Heads of the Asean Intellectual
Property Offices have expressed their commitment to stronger cooperation to
support the integration of Asean Economic Community.
They
made the commmitment at the four-day 44th Asean Working Group on Intellectual
Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) in Ho Chih Minh City which ends on Thursday.
The
meeting was Officiated by Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Science and Technology,
Tran Van Tung, a statement released by Intellectual Property of Singapore
(IPOS) said here here Wednesday.
The
meeting was encouraged by the good progress of various initiatives under the
Asean Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Action Plan 2011-2015.
Chaired
by IPOS chief executive Tan Yih San, the AWGIPC is an Asean regional platform
to foster a business-friendly IP environment in Southeast Asia that covers 630
million people.
Guided
by the IPR Action Plan, Asean has made notable progress in improving its IP
ecosystem and is fast becoming a business-friendly region.
Highlights
of the 44th AWGIPC meeting included the participation of key dialogue partners
such as Hideo Hato, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office, and He Zhimin,
Deputy Commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office.
The
meeting also saw the enlarged engagement with Asean Intellectual Property
Association which comprised IP practitioners, to better understand the issues
faced by the IP community.
The
Asean IP Offices also attended the 6th Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade
Agreement Intellectual Property Committee Meeting which addressed initiatives
to promote intellectual property and the member states' accession to the Madrid
Protocol.
All the
IP Heads discussed and reviewed the progress of the customised Asean Patent
Examination Co-operation (ASPEC) programme which reduces the cost and time to
obtain a patent in Asean.
Thus
far, all ASPEC requests succeeded to receive an office action within six months
of filing.
Strong
collaborative relationships between the Asean IP Offices made this possible as
examiners are now able to access and make use of each other's reports for
similar patent applications to further promote patent work-sharing and exchange
of best practices in Asean.
Meanwhile,
on the sidelines, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed by Tan
Yih San, and Ta Quang Minh, Director General of the National Office of
Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), signalling enhanced cooperation
between the two IP Offices.
The MOU
will see stronger collaborations in promoting IP utilisation and more
assistance to businesses seeking IP protection in the Singapore and Vietnam
markets.
Areas
of partnership will include quality administration and capacity building,
technology transfer and commercialisation, IP valuation, as well as promotion
of IP to SMEs and the public.
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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