The meetings of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) board of directors concluded in Paris the day before yesterday. Participating in these meetings were leaders of national associations and LESI representatives. Representing the Licensing Executives Society – Arab Countries (LES-AC) was Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, LES-AC chairman. LES-AC represents the Arab region in this field.
The board of directors discussed the mission and LESI’s goals globally, in addition to future plans and educational programs.
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh presented a number of suggestions to the board of directors that were discussed. Committees were assigned to study the feasibility of their implementation and they can be summarized as follows:
1- Revising the name of the international organization (LESI) to reflect its goals and purposes, which primarily means utilizing intellectual property (IP) rights commercially to serve society, in addition to technology transfer and developing national technology, and all items related to benefiting from IP rights.
2- Granting the opportunity to relevant companies, universities, institutions and governmental bodies to become members, as the current system allows membership for natural persons only.
3- Acceleration in implementing the professional qualification system, such that skilled people can graduate with technology expert certificates and IP administration expert certificates. This program was prepared at LES-Canada and the USA, and will be applied in the Arab region by LES-AC.
4- Transforming all methods of communication and print and the LESI magazine to the electronic system.
5- Cooperation with global associations and firms in the future in common programs and activities that serve common goals.
The board also discussed the arrangements to convene LESI’s annual global conference, which is set to be held in Cairo in May 2004. This is the first conference of its kind that will be held in the Arab region. It will convene under the patronage of the Egyptian government and will be organized by LES-AC. The conference is expected to have the participation of about 1000 persons from international bodies, licensing and technology transfer experts and others interested from around the globe.