“Why are we discussing IP protection here and now?” asked Michael Chia, president of AIPPI Malaysia and a partner at Kennedys in Singapore, speaking in Kuala Lumpur at the AIPPI ASEAN Regional Meeting earlier this month.

The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), with a consumer market of over 600 million people – and collectively the world’s 6th largest economy – means that IP protection across the region will be in focus like never before, Chia said.

Secondly, and ever present in any discussion on IP policy, Chia said, is China. ASEAN’s proximity to the world’s second-largest economy, and its largest trading partner, means that ASEAN is well placed to benefit from China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

Finally, Chia says, the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, which will cover 40% of all global trade, is of great importance to ASEAN. With four signatories from ASEAN (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam) and several more important trading partners from the region (Australia, New Zealand and Japan), ASEAN will be transformed by the agreement, and with the obligations it includes. Trade brings IP issues, and as treaty obligations come into effect, there will be a lot of work for IP lawyers from across the region, Chia said.