Committee for International Affairs
Committee Chairs
The committee chairs supervise the committee work to identify topics, problem areas, and tasks to be solved in the committee’s area of international affairs. They coordinate the further development of tasks and solution approaches and enlarge and intensify the awareness for IP management at international level.
Purpose
The focus of the International Affairs Committee is to examine IP Management matters from an international perspective. The vision of this committee is to assess and assist with harmonization of IP rights internationally to achieve a well-functioning global IP system that is friendly to IP rights’ holders worldwide.
This Committee’s mission is to examine and critically assess current developments in IP law and management from an international perspective to identify gaps, and propose recommendations for harmonization or improvements.
The objectives of the International Affairs Committee are to:
- support capacity building efforts, especially in developing countries, to enhance understanding of intellectual property management;
- assist in greater harmonization of IP systems worldwide;
- engage in advocacy and outreach activities to raise awareness about the importance of intellectual property management at the international level;
- promote education on IP management issues, encourage respect for IP rights, and foster a culture of innovation and creativity globally; and
- highlight international developments relative to IP Management.
The Committee comprises IP experts from diverse backgrounds and jurisdictions that face unique challenges and thus can share unique and distinct insights and perspectives on IP management internationally.
Challenges
Given the jurisdictional nature of IP rights, lack of harmonization of these rights poses a challenge to rights holders. Differences In IP laws, regulations, policies and systems worldwide make it difficult to manage IP rights internationally. Further, different levels of IP development among countries raises issues for proper IP protection and enforcement of rights. The difficulty in navigating IP rights in overseas markets often deters rights holders and consequently, expansion and growth is stymied.
Many treaties and international agreements that have been implemented to improve the IP systems worldwide with an aim of greater harmonization.
However, there is significant work to be done, particularly in the developing world. The disparity in IP systems between the developed world and the developing world highlights the need for greater harmonization with efforts needed to address the unique issues that arises in both worlds.
Activities
The International Affairs Committee is committed to highlighting developments in the international community regarding IP management to ensure I3PM members are up to date with international matters. These developments are shared to promote education on IP management issues from an international perspective.
The Committee invites collaboration with industry experts worldwide to gain and share various perspectives on international IP management issues. Through collaboration, positive change will be made to the international IP landscape.
This involves real-life case studies on harmonization of IP systems and provides best practices adopted in various jurisdictions for a more comprehensive understanding of IP management.
Training programs, workshops and technical assistance initiatives of this Committee will provide necessary support to the I3PM and international IP community. This helps to foster exponential growth of companies, particularly SMEs and Medium sized companies, and enable easier entry into overseas markets.
This Committee is dedicated to assisting in developing and formulating international policies and strategies related to IP management.
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