The AANZFTA Chapter on Intellectual Property affirms and builds on the rights and obligations of the Parties under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in protecting the intellectual property rights of businesses in ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand.
Under AANZFTA, nationals of Parties shall be accorded national treatment (i.e. will not be treated any less favourable than a Party’s own nationals) with regard to the protection of intellectual property. It also contains obligations on copyright, government use of software, trademarks and geographical indications, and transparency.
The Chapter also provides for cooperation on intellectual property, including the establishment of a Committee on Intellectual Property to support implementation and to achieve the objectives of the Chapter.
Read the Agreement: Chapter 13. Intellectual Property.
Capacity Building for Patent Examiners in ASEANThrough AECSP, AANZFTA Parties have supported two complementary projects: (1) Capacity Building for Patent Examiners – An Ideal Training Model (IPET), and (2) Regional Patent Examination Training Mentoring (RPET Mentoring), initiated in 2013 and 2017, respectively. These interrelated projects aim to develop and embed a consistent and sustainable approach with tailored resources to patent examination training in the ASEAN Member States (AMS). The shared goal is to enhance internal training capacity of the interested ASEAN Intellectual Property Office and the overall quality of patent examination standards throughout the region.
In this light, an Online Learning Platform has been developed under IPET and further contextualised under RPET Mentoring to suit domestic practices and legislations. Individual country instances provide tailored training materials, while still encouraging a common approach to training across the AMS. This Online Learning Platform has served as an effective and interactive learning hub and an open-source depository for training resources for patent examiners in participating ASEAN IP Offices. Below are the customised eLearning instances, only accessible to authorized officials from the participating AMS:
- For all ASEAN IP Office
- Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) of Indonesia
- National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP)
- Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of Thailand
- Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
- Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL)
Click
here to learn more about how these two projects have improved the quality of patent examination and internal training capacity in AMS.
