Program

08:30-09:30: Part I: Country Report
09:30-09:50: Part II: WIPO Report
09:50-10:10: Coffee Break
10:10-12:00: Part III: Special Topic

Conflicting applications occur when an earlier application filed prior to a later patent application is published after the effective filing date of the later-filed patent application. The treatment of conflicting applications, namely “Secret Prior Art,” is dealt with differently in various jurisdictions. In many countries, it is an additional hurdle to overcome for patentability and can be used as one of the strategic tools for competing applicants. This year, the APAA Patents Committee will identify the current situation on how Secret Prior Art is being treated in relation to patentability throughout the different jurisdictions of APAA Recognized Groups and understand the rationale thereof.

09:00-10:45: Part I: Country Report
10:45-11:00: Coffee Break
11:00-12:00: Part II: Special Topic

Most jurisdictions have provided for varying degrees of safe harbor exceptions in relation to the use, routing, and communication of copyrighted materials by internet service providers (“ISPs”), or the caching and transient storage of such materials, provided certain conditions are fulfilled. With the advent of Web 2.0, the online community can now easily collaborate and share copyrighted materials via social media and blogging etc. There seems to be a push for a new balance to be struck to make service providers more responsible to police the content going through their platforms instead of allowing them to retreat to a large “safe harbour”. What are your views on this new balance and how is the law or policy in your jurisdiction responding to this issue?

09:00-10:45: Part I: Special Topic
10:45-11:00: Coffee Break
11:00-12:00: Part II: Country Report

How to use a registered trademark properly? What is proper use of registered trademarks in a non-use cancellation action or as a prerequisite for maintaining a trademark registration or invalidating a junior registration? There are a number of complicated issues concerning “Use Requirements” in proving use including use on the internet. It would give you crucial tips for successfully establishing use of registered trademarks.

09:00-10:45: Part I: Special Topic
10:45-11:00: Coffee Break
11:00-12:00: Part II: Country Report

Most jurisdictions recognize design protection but with varying terms of protection. Some jurisdictions permit multiple embodiments in one application, while others do not permit multiple embodiments in a single application. Some jurisdictions do not permit partial designs or certain types of designs(e.g. GUI). Also drawing requirements vary by jurisdiction. Nevertheless, since an applicant is likely to file applications in several jurisdiction with a common priority claim, it becomes very important to understand the nuances of law and procedure in each jurisdiction to maximize the protection. Design Committee will discuss these crucial aspects through an interactive session.

09:00-10:45: Part I:Country Report
10:45-11:00: Coffee Break
11:00-12:00: Part II: Special Topic

The computer game Fortnite allows people to buy emotes, or dance moves. The dance moves replicate real life dance moves, developed by real people. To what extent can copyright protect a dance move, and to what extent would an emote be an infringement of that copyright? Should dance moves attract some proprietary right, and if so, is copyright an appropriate right?

09:00-10:45: Part I: Special Topic
10:45-11:00: Coffee Break
11:00-12:00: Part II: Country Report

Social media helps us to learn, share and communicate in most effective manner among larger groups of people and machines. There are IP issues involved in selling and promoting services and products through social media such as incorrect content and hyperbole of quality/quantity, disparaging content, image based abuse, fake identities/lack of authenticity verification. The Emerging IP Committee will discuss law, practices and jurisdiction of member countries to address the IP issues regarding social media advertising.

Moderator:

Hari Subramaniam, Attorney-at-law, Subramaniam & Associates

Speakers:

Hemant Singh, Founder & Managing Partner, INTTL ADVOCARE

Nik Ramchand, Principal Lawyer, Patent Attorney, Davies Collison Cave

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, Judge of the High Court of Delhi

Sung-Mei Hsiung, High Court Judge, Taiwan Intellectual Property Court

Vincent Lin, Esq., Equity Partner, Tsar & Tsai Law Firm

When the world is rapidly moving into a combination of product and knowledge based economies, when governments are attempting to standardize technologies, complex tussle between standards, competition law and patent rights is inevitable. Come and watch experienced litigators from different jurisdictions slug it out before real judges in a 2 ½ hours mock trial.

Moderator:

Susan Yee, Principal, Schwegman Lundberg Woessner

Speakers:

Bahari Yeow Tien Hong, Partner, Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill

Hsiu-Ru Chien, Partner, Lee & Li Law Firm

Pawel Piotrowicz, Partner, Patent Attorney, Venner Shipley

Yusuke Ichikawa, Patent Attorney, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune

Reactor:

Alex Ferdinand S. Fider, Senior Partner, ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES

People are increasingly able to undertake genetic analysis to determine their own genetic code. Service providers such as Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, Ancestry DNA etc. will sequence a person’s genetic code on request. In addition biometrics are becoming an increasingly popular authentication mechanism, with many computing devices (including telephones and laptops) nowadays being secured by fingerprint readers or facial recognition cameras. Information such as genetic codes and biometric data cannot be easily altered, and are highly personal. Who should own this data? Should this data be the subject of IP protection, and if so, what regimes are, or should be available, to protect this data? Does the increased availability of this data have any other IP implications?

Feel the energy and enjoy the rhythm with women delegates at the Body Percussion Workshop accompanied by local Taiwanese melodies. Body percussion is a subset of “body music” and is a great and fun way to engage with other delegates to make friends and build relationships during the one-hour session of the Women in APAA. Let’s get moving together!

Moderator:

Nikki Kahn, Senior Associate, DLA Piper

Tracey Hendy, Principal, FPA Patent Attorneys

At the Patent training work shop you learn a simple process to help create a first draft of an independent claim of a patent specification. Independent claims are at the heart of a patent specification and knowing how they are created, used and challenged is vital for anyone involved in patent drafting and patent prosecution. In the workshop you will be taught a simple process and will then work in groups to create your own independent claim for a simple invention.

1st Session Title: Successful Licensing: How to Let the Brand Make All the Noise!

Moderator:

Jo-Ann See, Director, Amica Law LLC

Speakers:

Catherine Zheng, Partner, Deacons

Chia-Ming Chai, Vice-President, International Legal Affairs, Uni-President Enterprises Corp.

At the Trademark Training workshop, you will learn from real-life case studies and experiences on brand licensing, which is also at the heart of any successful franchise.  We take a look at some of the hurdles faced by brand owners, what the key issues are and how ownership, control and use of the brand can make a difference between failure and success.  A not-to-be missed opportunity to interact with the owners of business themselves and learn valuable advice that will help you successfully help your clients navigate the many pitfalls of brand management and licensing.

2nd Session Title: A New ASEAN-Regional Trademark Filing Platform: An Unreal Possibility?

Moderator:

Jo-Ann See, Director, Amica Law LLC

Speakers:

Emma Carino Francisco, Partner, Creativelaw

John Paul M. Gaba, Partner, Accralaw

Shunji Sato, Partner, TMI Associates

From effective branding and licensing, we move to learn about the new and exciting initiatives that are taking place to create an ASEAN-regional trade mark filing system.  Home to more than 650 million inhabitants, the ASEAN countries represent the world’s third largest market.  A market that is powered considerably by medium-, small-, and micro-enterprises (MSMEs).  Is an ASEAN-regional filing platform a better fit for the needs of businesses and MSMEs in this region?  Is the possibility of such a regional filing platform unreal?

Moderator:

Greg Munt, Griffith Hack, Principal, Patent Attorney

Speakers:

Daniel Poh, Partner, Singapore office of Marks & Clerk

Guojun Zhou, Patent Director for Asia-Pacific, Intel Corporation

Marcus Woo, Vice President & General Counsel, HTC Corporation

Shang-jyh Liu, Honorary Chair Professor, National Chiao Tung University School of Law

Once a fiction in sci-fi novels and movies, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is now everywhere in our real life. The gap between AI and human intelligence becomes narrower as there is a leap of AI’s development with the increase of Big Data analytics (BD) and Machine Learning techniques (ML). The assumption that human intelligence or specialist expertise can be accomplished only after the basic logical rules of expert knowledge can be translated into machine readable and computable formats and programmed into machines is no longer relevant, because the second-wave AI, taking the advantage of powerful information technologies and a vast amount of data they create, now learns from data and makes predictions and decisions based on algorithms which feeds different statistical models for defined problems and particular tasks. In the IP area, challenges faced by IP practitioners range from patentability of AI technology, ownership of inventions developed by AI, to AI’s impact on prior art eligibility requirement and infringement liability.