Montevideo was at the heart of advancing the intersection of creative industries and intellectual property rights (IPR) at the beginning of April through a series of events organised by AL-INVEST Verde IPR. The mosaic of events, designed for a broad spectrum of professionals from the MERCOSUR countries and Chile, explored the future of creativity through the prism of innovation and legality.

As of 15 April 2024, the Trinidad and Tobago Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO) has made its trade mark data available in the TMview search tool.

With the TTIPO on board, the TMview tool now contains data from 77 participating offices, and with the addition of more than 55 500 trade marks from the TTIPO, TMview now provides information and access to more than 121 million trade marks in total.

On 10 to 11 April 2024, a delegation from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) travelled to Tbilisi, Georgia, to assess the state of the country’s intellectual property (IP) system. This included technical discussions to identify the priorities and stakeholder needs in preparation for the EU4IP project’s first working plan. Exchanges were held to identify each institution’s main challenges – including IP rights enforcement in Georgia – and to define possible support measures.

In celebration of World IP Day on 26 April, which theme for 2024 is “IP and the SDGs: Building our common future with innovation and creativity”, CarIPI will collaborate with the different national IP Offices in CARIFORUM in promoting the activities they undertake in the margins of IP Week.

On 29-30 April, a delegation of selected IP experts and officials from Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, will visit the premises of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante. Participation of these representatives to the 5th IP Case Law Conference (IPCLC 2024) organised by the EUIPO Boards of Appeal is facilitated by the EU4IP project.

The CARIFORUM Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation project (CarIPI), has just published a manual on regional geographical indications (GI), intended as a comprehensive guide for producers or producer groups, control bodies and IP offices. The manual outlines the necessary steps, requirements and outcomes associated with GI protection.