At the same time the Arab Society for the Protection of Industrial Property (ASPIP) convened its general assembly meeting, in addition to the meetings of the society’s board of directors, and in collaboration with the German Patents Office, ASPIP held a seminar on the principles and bases that control industrial property and intellectual property (IP) protection.
This seminar was convened at the Marriott hotel last Monday in Munich, Germany. It was attended by ASPIP members and an elite group of workers and experts in the field of trademarks and patents registration from various countries.
The seminar aims to enhance the participants’ understanding of the significance of protecting intellectual and industrial property, by presenting a comprehensive idea on the principles, bases and procedures that direct this type of activity.
This is because there is a comprehensive system for industrial property rights, since the existence of such system is considered a major prerequisite for effective and constructive competition, and an important tool in transferring advanced technologies between societies. Further, it is an instrument in encouraging nations to cooperate with one another technically and economically.
At the seminar, Professor Eric Hoyser, President of the German Patents Office, and Mr. Frank Jobel, President of the German Trademarks Office, along with an elite group of German patent experts, presented an important view relating to the administrative and legal aspects of industrial property protection.
Some of the various topics dealt with at the seminar were the significance of technical creativity and protective systems in economic development, the main elements of patents protection law, procedures taken against the violation of a patent owner’s rights and the main principles that trademarks laws were based upon. The seminar included a discussion session after each lecture, in addition to a general discussion at the seminar’s end.
As soon as the seminar’s agenda was complete along with its applicable practices, the ASPIP board held a meeting in which the board members defined the future path and plans of the society.
Also at the meeting, board members were elected and various administrative and financial issues were discussed. The board also talked about translating the international classification issued by WIPO and reviewed the plan to create the Arab Society for Protection from Imitations and Commercial Fraud.
At the end of the meeting, the board addressed the society’s activities both nationally and internationally.
At the ASPIP general assembly meeting, the members ratified the report of the board of directors for the society’s activities for 1993. It also ratified the finalized accounts for the concluded year and appointed an observer for the accounts of the current fiscal year and determined his wages.