Prospects for a regional trademark registration system were top of the agenda at a meeting of national intellectual property offices of the ASEAN Member States held in Bangkok, Thailand.
 
Delegates discussed the scope of a feasibility study to be conducted by the EU-funded ARISE+ IPR programme, which will consider aspects such as legal infrastructure, operational set-up, fee structures, stakeholder interests, and the impact on national trademark systems.
 
IP-intensive industry is now increasingly at the heart of Southeast Asia’s economic growth. Protecting IP rights means protecting innovation and ideas and the commercial value of a business.

ASEAN Secretariat Senior IP Officer Maslina Binte Malik speaks with DIP Thailand Deputy Direct or General Nusara Kanjanakul

ASEAN-wide policies and systems to enforce IP rights protection help both local and international businesses across the region.
 
A regional trademark system would potentially reduce the time for businesses to register their trademarks across all ten ASEAN Member States and create greater certainty on registration procedures, ultimately improving the ease for businesses to operate in the region and fostering new investment.
 
Currently, businesses are required to file a separate trademark application in each ASEAN Member State, or consider an international filing through the Madrid system for participating countries. Regional trademark systems already operate in the European Union and in the French-speaking African states (OAPI).

Delegates from all ten ASEAN Member States discuss a regional trademark sys

tem at the ARISE+ IPR

meeting in Bangkok

Delegates from all 10 ASEAN Member States discuss a regional trademark sys tem at the ARISE+ IPR meeting in Bangkok

 
“The discussions today represent a significant step forward on the path of regional integration and the convergence of IP systems in ASEAN, and towards the economic benefits that result,” noted ARISE+ IPR Project Leader Ignacio de Medrano Caballero during opening proceedings.
 
Other regional initiatives discussed included updates to the ASEAN trademark examination guidelines and the establishment of an ASEAN IP academy.
 
The feasibility study on a regional trademark system is one of a series of activities being conducted by the five-year, EU-funded ARISE+ IPR programme to promote regional integration of intellectual property regulation in ASEAN Member States.

(Left - Right) ARISE+ IP R Deputy Project Leader, Tiago da Trindade Geurreiro; DIP Thailand Deputy Director General Nusara Kanjanakul; EU Delegation to Thailand Trade Counsellor, Isabelle de Stobbeleir; and ARISE+ IPR Project Leader, Ignacio de Medrano Caballero