| Danial Norjidi |
THE heads of Asean intellectual property offices, including Brunei Darussalam, and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) yesterday.
The agreement is for the establishment of an institutional framework for structured cooperation towards promoting the development of IP systems of the parties as well as strengthening bilateral exchange and cooperation in the field of intellectual property.
The signing ceremony took place at the International Convention Centre in Berakas and was witnessed by Pengiran Jamra Weira bin Pengiran Haji Petra, Acting Permanent Secretary (Energy and Industry) at the Energy and Industry Department.
Representing Brunei Darussalam and the Brunei Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO) was Shahrinah binti Yusof Khan in her capacity as the Deputy Registrar and Head of BruIPO, Energy and Industry Department.
The Korean Intellectual Property Office was represented by its Commissioner Sung Yunmo while the other Asean intellectual property offices were represented by their respective heads and official representatives.
According to a press release, the MoC was the result of discussions between the KIPO and the Asesan Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) on Asean IP Rights Action Plan 2016-2025.
It is designed to meet the goals of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by transforming Asean into an innovative and competitive region through the use of intellectual property and ensuring that the region remains an active player in the international IP community.
Dr Freddy Harris, Chairman of the AWGIPC and Director-General of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Indonesia delivered remarks at yesterday’s signing ceremony.
He said Asean and Korea share a warm partnership, noting that in the last 10 years, trade between them doubled from $61 billion to $125 billion. He also noted that Asean and Korea recently celebrated several milestones, including the 50th anniversary of Asean and the 10th anniversary of the Asean-Korea Free Trade Area (AKFTA) in 2017.
“Today’s signing marks the launch of our cooperative efforts in intellectual property as we work together to support the goals of the Asean Community,” he said.
“We would like to thank the Korean IP Office for taking the initiative to propose and explore a partnership with the Asean member states through the AWGIPC, and we look forward to an exciting and fruitful partnership with you.
“Under this MoC, we hope to be able to expand our knowledge in the different fields of IP as well as share our experiences on topics such as IP protection and management, IP automation system development, IP valuation and IP commercialisation.
“The Asean IP offices thus look forward to cementing our relationship through this MoC in the coming years,” he added.
The post Asean, Korea ink deal to promote IP systems appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.