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Intellectual Property in ASEAN
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand by the founding members: Indonesia (ID), Malaysia (MY), Philippines (PH), Singapore (SG) and Thailand (TH). Brunei (BN) joined in the 1980s, followed by Vietnam (VN), then Laos (LA) and Myanmar (MA) and finally, Cambodia (KH), its 10th member.
ASEAN leaders initially resolved that an ASEAN Community should be established by 2020 but in 2007, the leaders agreed to accelerate ASEAN economic integration to 2015.
It has been recognized that generation, protection and utilization of intellectual property rights stimulates creativity and innovation, which in turn spurs progress in industries and leads to national development. Much effort has been invested into building respect for the IP systems in the region, which will attract inflow of technology and encourage more IP owners to bring their businesses to ASEAN. Specific initiatives have been identified and deliverables set out including:
1. Implementation of the ASEAN Patent Search and Examination Cooperation (ASPEC) to facilitate patents to be granted more efficiently and quickly by furnishing examination in one ASEAN country to the IP Offices of other ASEAN countries;
2. Concerted efforts to streamline workflow, enhance IT-systems and improve quality of examination to reduce timeframe to issue trademark registrations (without objections/opposition) within 6 months;
3. Implementation of a regional classification of ethnic goods and services to supplement the Nice Classification used worldwide for trademark registrations;
4. Programmes to build the capacity of patent, trademark and industrial design professionals including training in the laws, regulations and procedures of multiple countries in ASEAN;
5. Development of IPR enforcement throughout ASEAN including efforts to reduce movement of pirated/counterfeit goods into and between ASEAN countries and expediting the disposition of IP cases by judiciary;
6. Protection of geographical indications (GIs) including possibility or desirability of separate registration systems
7. Work within IP offices, major business groups, amendment of laws and regulations in order for ASEAN countries to accede to the Madrid Protocol for international registration of trademarks (target date 2015);
8. Studies, consultations, training and amendment of laws and regulations for ASEAN countries to accede to the Hague Agreement for international registration of industrial designs (target date 2015);
9. Studies, consultations, training and amendment of laws and regulations for ASEAN countries to accede to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (target date 2015).
As at April 2015, the following ASEAN countries are signatories to the Paris Convention (which relates to Patents, Trademarks and Designs), have acceded to the Madrid Protocol, Hague Agreement and/or Patent Cooperation Treaty and/or apply the Nice Classification, also known as the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS) and/or Locarno Classification:
| BN | ID | KH | LA | MA | MY | PH | SG | TH | VN | |
| Paris Convention | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Madrid Protocol (trademarks) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hague Agreement (industrial designs) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Patent Cooperation Treaty (patents) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ICGS (for trademarks) | ✓* | ✓ | ✓ | ✓# | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Locarno Classification (for designs) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
* the 7th edition of the ICGS is used in Brunei
# the 8th edition is used in Laos, the 10th edition is used elsewhere.
The ASEAN IP Portal (www.aseanip.org), launched in April 2013, comprises information on ASEAN IP systems, comparative IP-related data, and web links to ASEAN IP Offices. It is currently hosted and managed by Singapore, who will be introducing new features to enhance the portal over time.
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