AIPPI to open 2012 congress in Seoul

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) said on Tuesday it will hold its 43rd annual congress in COEX, Seoul, between Oct. 20-23.

“The World Intellectual Property Congress is one of the biggest intellectual property events in the world. In the upcoming Seoul congress, around 2,000 intellectual property professionals from over 80 countries are expected to attend,’’ AIPPI Korea, the organizer of the 2012 Congress, said in a statement.

High-ranking officials from such intellectual property-related organizations as the Korean Intellectual Property Office, European Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Organization will attend the Seoul meeting.

IP-related international associations, including Licensing Executive Society International, International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys, Asian Patent Attorneys Association, and American Intellectual Property Law Association will also be on the list of key participants.

One of key items on the Seoul Congress agenda includes, in particular, design and copyright protection for industrial goods, which has emerged as a critical issue in the international corporate world following the recent Samsung-Apple patent war over their smartphones. Other topics include the use of prosecution history in post-grant patent proceedings, infringement of trademarks by goods in transit, and relevance of traditional knowledge to intellectual property law.

Participants will have a chance to listen to different views and perspectives from a variety of guest speakers. Invited special guest speakers to the Seoul Congress include chief judge Randall R. Rader at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; James Pooley, deputy director general for patents at WIPO; presiding judge Peter Meier-Beck at the German Federal Supreme Court; and professor Lee Hai-won, president of the Asian Research Network Korea, the organizer said.

AIPPI, headquartered in Switzerland, is the world’s biggest intellectual property association with 9,000 members and has been dedicated to the development and advance of intellectual property protection since its establishment in 1897. Kim Yoon-bae, a patent attorney in Seoul, serves AIPPI as the current president.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)