The IP Key SEA IP Enforcement Week is a joint effort between the EU and South-East Asia aimed at IP policy-makers, IP and law enforcement authorities, IP stakeholders, and businesses in South-East Asia.The scale of the problem was highlighted in a report on the global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods prepared by the OECD jointly with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which shows that the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods had risen to 3.3% of world trade in 2016 – compared with 2.5% just three years earlier.
IP Enforcement Week covers a broad range of IP rights (IPRs) protection and enforcement-related topics, featuring some of the most experienced speakers from the European Commission and EU Member States, The European Observatory on infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, EUROPOL, South-East Asia IP officials, academia, and representatives of EU and South-East Asia businesses.
The rise in IPR infringement has been facilitated in particular by digital technology that allows low-cost, high quality reproduction in bulk and a faster than ever circulation of fakes. It was estimated that the EU loses about EUR 8 billion of its GDP a year because of counterfeiting and piracy.
An efficient and effectively enforced intellectual property infrastructure is therefore necessary to ensure the stimulation of investment in innovation and to avoid commercial-scale IPR infringements that result in economic harm.
One of the major issues related to IPR enforcement involves the lack of awareness of the value of intellectual property and the lack of the necessary enforcement measures and remedies. The IP Enforcement Week events aim therefore to enhance the understanding of IP rights and the importance of its effective enforcement as a crucial undertaking for South-East Asia countries that are particularly prone to the proliferation of fake goods.
The 2019 IP Enforcement Week is organised in the framework of the IP KEY South-East Asia programme (IP Key SEA). Funded by the European Union, IP Key SEA focuses on supporting the enhancement of the IPR protection and enforcement regimes of the countries in the region. The programme works with its international trading partners in order to help them address specific emerging challenges in the area of IP, and to facilitate market access for EU businesses and innovators.
2019 IP Enforcement Week: events day-by-day
A Seminar on Customs Enforcement of IPRs is to kick-off the IP Enforcement Week in Bangkok, Thailand, on 9 September, followed by a Workshop on Online IP Infringement Detection and Investigation on 10 September.
On 11 September, IP Key SEA is holding the EU Business Talks. The participants will discuss the IPR concerns and challenges faced by EU enterprises in South-East Asia. The inputs from these sessions are expected to enable IP Key SEA to strategically plan its future activities, ensuring that the Project is aligned with the requirements of its intended partners. The meeting will be opened by Mr. Peter Kovacs, Head of the Intellectual Property and Public Procurement Unit of the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission.
The Business Talks will then be followed by a Conference on Online IPR infringement and the Responsibility of Intermediary Service Providers on 11-12 September. Both events are designed with the aim of sharing best practices between key stakeholders on the subject of IPR infringement, and will address the urgent need to increase efforts to effectively monitor, report, and investigate online crime trends and emerging modus operandi in SEA.
To cap off the IP Enforcement Week, a Seminar on IPR Enforcement for Police Authorities will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 13 September, and in Jakarta, Indonesia on 16 September. The seminar will focus on physical marketplaces for infringing goods, and investigative techniques to facilitate the successful prosecution of IPR offenses.
Back to back with the IP Enforcement Week, IP Key SEA will also organise a Conference on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights in South-East Asia on 18-19 September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With experts and speakers from international collective management associations and members of the academe, the 2-day conference is expected to provide a platform for the sharing of best practices on promoting the effective functioning of collective management organizations (CMOs), including tools and applications that facilitate licensing and the distribution of royalties to rights holders.
