Asia-Pacific IP Forum to focus on Customs

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Asia-Pacific IP Forum to focus on Customs

Managing IP magazine has attracted some of the biggest regional names to speak at the seventh annual Asia-Pacific IP Forum

The Forum will take place on September 1 and 2 at the Sheraton Hotel in Hong Kong.

David Llewellyn, professor of IP law at King's College London, external director of the IP Academy in Singapore and of counsel at White & Case will be giving the keynote address entitled "IP in Asia - moving to the next phase".

Llewelyn moved to Singapore this year and is one of the leading experts on IP in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the author of the recently published book Invisible Gold in Asia: Creating Wealth Through Intellectual Property.

The event will deal with a wide range of IP issues, but this year will have a particular focus on working with Customs authorities. 

The opening session will look at how to manage IP investigations and will feature two Customs officials: Richard Halverson, unit chief, National IPR Coordination Center, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Albert Ho, Head of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, Hong Kong Customs.

Robert Youill, vice president of brand protection services for IP investigation firm FTI-International Risk will also be taking part in that session.

On day two Lall Lahiri & Salhotra has attracted a range of in-house counsel from India to take part in a session on how to work with the Customs authorities to protect your brands in this growing market.

Finally, United Trademark & Patent Services will be leading a session on protecting IP in the Middle East that will look at Customs authorities in an area that has become a hotspot for the transhipment of fake goods.

That session will also look at the cutting edge topic of how IP interacts with Sharia law and other sessions in the event will look at new challenges for brand owners.

For example, at the end of day one, Stan Abrams and Danny Friedmann, authors of the blogs China Hearsay and IP Dragon, as well as qualified IP lawyers, will look at IP and social media.

They will follow a session led by Wong & Partners that will look at what IP owners can do to counter online IP infringement in Southeast Asia.

For the first time, this year Managing IP will have two separate sessions dealing with China. In the first session speakers from East IP law firm, including former SIPO commissioner and president of the All-China Patent Agents Association Gao Lulin, will look at the effects of the third amendment to the country's Patent Law.

The second will deal with changes to the rules on how trade mark owners can obtain well-known status and how brand owners can successfully register three dimensional trade marks.

In patents, the second session on day one, the law firm Foley & Lardner will look at licensing and litigation in the US while day two will begin with a discussion of IP valuation in sale and licensing transactions.

In addition to these topics, CPA Global will lead a session looking at IP outsourcing and there will be panel discussions on how in-house can make the case for increasing IP budgets, and how the common and civil law systems treat IP within the region.

Managing IP would like to thank all the sponsors of the event: CPA Global, East IP, Foley & Lardner, FTI-International Risk, Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, United Trademark & Patent Services and Wong & Partners.

More information on the event is available here or by emailing Samantha Woo on Samantha.woo@euromoneyasia.com.

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