The 43rd World Intellectual Property Congress of AIPPI is taking place in Seoul from Saturday until Tuesday, 2012. It is the first time in 20 years that the AIPPI Congress returns to Asia. In that interval of 20 years, the economies of Korea, Japan and China have all assumed positions as leading economies in the world.

During the past 20 years, the AIPPI has reformed and modernized its working methods and meetings in an effort to maintain its leading role in the study, development and harmonization of intellectual property laws around the world. Every two years, AIPPI members gather together at a congress for a week of concentrated meetings and workshops focusing on the most current intellectual property law developments in the world.

The Seoul Congress promises to be particularly memorable as the executive committee of AIPPI has been presented with a consultant’s report and recommendations from Robin Rolfe Resources, Inc. It surely was the subject of lively discussion. The report and recommendations are part of an AIPPI strategy project designed to study and improve upon the work and activities of AIPPI.

Never before in the history of AIPPI has the organization undertaken such a comprehensive analysis with a view for further strengthening its membership and its role internationally. Based on detailed surveys of members and non-members of AIPPI, the Report and Recommendations call for changes in the governance and structure, as well as operations, of AIPPI. The aim is to provide added services for members and more effective and visible communications, in particular to promote the many significant comparative legal studies conducted by AIPPI members and presented to governments.

The strategy project and the work with Robin Rolfe Resources, Inc. is being handled by a task force headed by the vice president, John Bochnovic, and including several members of the bureau as well as the chairs of the membership committee and the communications committee, two of the five statutory committees of the AIPPI.

It is anticipated that the Seoul Congress would help to define a way forward for the further study and implementation of the recommendations. If it does, the congress would be recognized as one of the AIPPI’s most important meetings in recent times.

By John Bochnovic, Vice president, AIPPI