ArisePlusIPR

ARISE+ IPR has hosted many workshops for Geographical Indications (GIs) producers under its previous annual work plans to increase their capacity and promote their commercialisation of GI products. In 2021, the project had a different approach. It held a workshop for IP legislators, policymakers, and IP office officials whose work is relevant to promoting GI and design-intensive products, especially in rural areas and community-based industries.

Geographical Indications (GI) Product Specifications is an important document to help control and improve GI protection and enforcement. On 23 and 24 November 2021, ARISE+ IPR organised a workshop on drafting GI Product Specifications. The workshop was intended for GI producers, GI associations, and government officials in the relevant fields in the ASEAN region. The workshop facilitated potential GI producers in drafting the GI Product Specifications and helped existing GI producers to improve and maintain the quality of their GI Product Specifications.

In November 2021, ARISE+ IPR organised ‘Pre-accession training on the Hague Agreement’ and ‘Regional Workshop on the Madrid Protocol’. The event provided ongoing support to the ASEAN Member States (AMS) in their pre-accession and post-accession to the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. It followed on from previous studies and training implemented under the framework of the Annual Work Plan 1-3.

In September 2021, ARISE+ IPR set out to draft the booklet ‘The Madrid Protocol: a route to global branding’ for Malaysia, to prepare the booklet ‘The Hague System: bringing Vietnamese design to the world’ for Vietnam, and to update the existing booklets with country-specific information.

On 25-26 October 2021, ARISE+ IPR hosted a ‘Colloquium on IP Valuation and the Use of IP as an Asset’ for government officials of the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN SMEs and MSMEs. The colloquium’s objectives were to highlight the importance of IP Valuation and Commercialisation and to be a platform for exploring the economic value of intangible assets, namely intellectual property rights.

Under the framework of Annual Work Plan 4, ARISE+ IPR organised two workshops on IP mediation in October 2021, targeting different groups of ASEAN Member States (AMS). The first workshop, ‘Introduction to IP Mediation Services’, took place on 11 and 12 October and targeted policymakers from AMS where the IP mediation services are not yet available. The workshop aimed to underline the benefits, advantages and limitations of IP mediation mechanisms. Success stories and case studies of IP mediation were shared by the EUIPO colleagues dealing with mediation cases.

On 23 September, ARISE+ IPR organised an online public awareness seminar to showcase the benefits of the ASEAN GI registration in the ASEAN region using data and results collected from ASEAN and worldwide GIs. These benefits include the positive economic and socio-cultural impacts that GI registration may bring to GI stakeholders, as well as to trade growth and economic integration in the ASEAN region. The seminar  also highlighted the GI systems in each ASEAN Member State, in particular, the key steps needed to register and enforce GIs in each ASEAN country.

Following the ‘Impact Study on ASEAN GI registration in the ASEAN region’, which was conducted in 2020, ARISE+ IPR organised roundtable discussions for ASEAN IP offices on the findings of the study and a sharing session on GI examination targeting GI officials from the ASEAN IP offices.