Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2023

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Rousing response for Rolfe report

Change is on the cards for AIPPI, if the reception given to a report on the association's future is anything to go by

Despite the fundamental nature of the changes recommended by Robin Rolfein her presentation at the AIPPI Congress, there were no critical comments by the delegates. Instead, five took the opportunity to congratulate Rolfe on her work and ask how fast the changes could be implemented.

As detailed on page 2 of Sunday's AIPPI Congress News, the report recommended changing the management structure of AIPPI, which Rolfe described as a “skinny down” with the Council of Presidents being given specific responsibilities so it can be “more than just a shadow of the ExCo”. The national and regional groups would remain fundamental but the confederation structure would be changed. “We in the US know how badly our confederation worked out, and those in Europe are experiencing it now,” said Rolfe. Moreover, the language or “AIPPI-speak” should change, with resolutions renamed ‘policies’ and working committees given a new name because “it suggests no one else does any work”.

“It’s not that you don’t do great things, it’s just that they are a big secret,” said Rolfe. “And when you do talk about it you use words that no one else understands.”

Delegates from Croatia, the UK and Denmark, among others, welcomed the report in their comments. Mladen Vukmir, head of the Croatian delegation, described how he had joined AIPPI at the Montreal Congress in 1995 and it took him several years before he understood how the association worked. “I was unaware of work that was apparently going on at the time to reform AIPPI, so I congratulate the Bureau on being so open with this report, and ask how quickly it can be implemented.”

Trevor Cook from the UK said that his group would support the report “perhaps in its totality” but echoed the concerns of Vukmir when he asked: “Given the constitutional constraints of the organization, how rapidly can these points be put into practice?”

John Bochnovic, who had earlier been voted in as the next President of AIPPI, said some things could be done immediately – like improving AIPPI communications – and others could be voted on electronically by the ExCo without the need for a meeting, but those to do with the organisation of AIPPI would require a change to the statutes and would therefore have to wait until the Toronto Congress in 2014.

In the meantime, national and regional groups will be given a deadline in which to put forward their views, before the Bureau meets again in six months’ time. Then hopefully many changes will be ready by the Helsinki Forum and ExCo meeting in September 2013.

The only concerns raised by delegates were that the national structure of AIPPI must be retained, which drew the loudest round of applause, and that the Bureau should tell the ExCo what it thought of the report, before anyone was expected to make their own response. Despite making the point that the Bureau was there to implement policy, rather than to make it, Secretary General Stephan Freischem promised that the Bureau would give its views soon.


Download the AIPPI Congress News, published by Managing IP from Seoul, Korea, from our conference newspapers page.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Civil society and industry representatives met in Geneva on Thursday, September 28 to discuss a potential expansion of the TRIPS waiver
Sources say the beta version of the USPTO’s new trademark search tool is a big improvement over the current system but that it isn’t perfect
Canadian counsel weigh in on the IP office’s decision to raise trademark filing fees in 2024 and how they’re preparing clients
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Shira Perlmutter, US Register of Copyrights, discussed the Copyright Office's role in forming generative AI policy during a House of Representatives hearing
The award marks one of the highest-ever damages received by a foreign company in a trademark infringement suit in China
Two orders denying public access to documents have reignited a debate over a lack of transparency at the new court
Rouse’s new chief of operations and the firm’s CEO tell Managing IP why they think private equity backing will help it conquer Europe
Brian Landry, partner at Saul Ewing, reveals how applicants can prosecute patent applications in the wake of the Federal Circuit's In re Cellect ruling
Ronelle Geldenhuys of Australia’s Foundry IP considers the implications complex computer technologies such as AI have on decision-making