AIPPI ExCo meeting kicks off 2022 World Congress
10 September 2022
The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) President Luiz Henrique do Amaral, kicked off the 2022 World Congress in San Francisco with an emotional “welcome back” to attendees of the Executive Committee I session, also known as ExCo I. “I am very, very excited to be back in person. We’ve missed a lot” over the past two years, do Amaral said.
Do Amaral celebrated the strong participation at this year’s World Congress by government organizations and nongovernmental organizations, including the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization, along with many other intellectual property organizations.
The ExCo I session involved reports from the organization’s administrative leaders. Reporter General Anne Marie Verschuur detailed this year’s draft Resolutions concerning the patentability of diagnostic methods, trade marks and the internet and social media, moral rights, the protection of trade secrets during litigation and other proceedings, and privileges relating to settlement negotiations. Reporter General Verschuur also highlighted the professional development portion of the Congress, which includes 21 panel sessions with a UPC Boot Camp with a mock trial, 3 IP lunch sessions, and 21 AIPPI Cafes.
“It’s been very difficult times,” do Amaral said. “Once the pandemic started, we had to immediately turn all the activities of the Bureau, the General Secretariat and the association as a whole, online. It was a very tough task, but thanks to all of you, we were successful in turning our association, which was based on in-person events, totally online.”
Do Amaral says AIPPI used the time during the pandemic to review many things within the organization and to develop a new forward-focused strategic plan, including the hiring of a new Executive Director in Judith Willert.
AIPPI is also investing in a new, modern website and improving its visibility on social media.
“We are happy to see that although we are more than 8,000 members, we have almost 23,000 followers in our social media channels.
AIPPI President Luiz Henrique do Amaral kicked off the 2022 World Congress in San Francisco
AIPPI’s Secretary General Annie Tsoi reported that 1,200 attendees registered for the World Congress in San Francisco. Attendance numbers at AIPPI’s first post-pandemic congress have held up well compared to pre-pandemic congresses in Sydney in 2017 and Cancun in 2018.
More importantly, Tsoi said, the number of young members, defined as 36 years old and younger, shows an increase over prior years, in spite of high travel costs and other challenges. “We have a good 15 percent increase. This is not coincidental, it’s through the hard work of our specific effort to attract young members in the past few years.”
Joshua Goldberg, Chair of AIPPI’s Communications Statutory Committee, described several of the committee initiatives including plans to promote AIPPI as the market-leading congress in intellectual property. “We have incredible thought leadership here at AIPPI,” Goldberg said. “High-quality content, high-quality speakers, the AIPPI resolutions, and the best networking.”
“AIPPI is ready for the future,” do Amaral said. “I think that our efforts and our work are vital to the development of intellectual property throughout the world, and for the harmonization of the laws.”
- Gregory Glass, San Francisco
