Friday, June 5, 2009

ASEAN to Launch “IP DIRECT”

Heads of ASEAN Intellectual Property (IP) Offices who met in Cha-Am, Thailand have
agreed to launch an online Directory of IP-related resources and services available in ASEAN Member States to serve as a useful and comprehensive “one-stop” resource for businesses and other interested parties.

Initially, the IP DIRECT will provide information pertaining to ASEAN Member States’ IP legislation, dispute resolution bodies, sources for grants/loans and government incentives for investment in technology and R&D, technology transfer/licensing offices, rights management organizations and IP awareness and public education.

Information in the Directory is organized along the framework of the IP value-chain, namely, invention/innovation, IP protection, IP exploitation and enforcement. Information is further sub-categorized under “Key Activities” for easy reference. Mr Kamel Mohamad,Director-General of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia and outgoing Chairman of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC)said: “Information in the Directory will be organized in a user-friendly manner. Ease of use was a paramount consideration in the design of the directory.”

Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal Jr, Director-General of the Philippines IP Office and incoming Chairman of the AWGIPC said: “The IP DIRECT will benefit ASEAN businesses and other innovators in the region. To ensure its relevancy, we will be consulting ASEAN stakeholders regularly as we continue to populate the database with important information.”

Mrs Puangrat Asavapisit, Director-General of Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property said: “The launch of the ASEAN IP Directory is timely in view of the move by ASEAN Member States toward an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. The Directory will assist SMEs to fully utilize the IP system in ASEAN and promote intra-ASEAN trade and investment.”

Singapore IP Office, as the initiator of this project, has completed the template for the Directory which will be hosted on the ASEAN website in English and is expected to be up and running in the coming months - ASEAN

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