Strict IPR would boost ASEAN trade
Strict IPR would boost ASEAN trade
Southeast Asian nations would boost their trade and investment
prospects by introducing more stringent intellectual property
rights protection standards, European Union (EU) officials said
Monday.
The EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
are beefing up cooperation on intellectual property rights (IPR)
cooperation, with a two-day workshop in Bangkok that began
Monday.
The symposium was organized under the new European Commission-
ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Cooperation Programme (ECAP
II), which fosters trade, investment and technology transfer
between the two blocs.
Klauspeter Schmallenbach, head of the delegation of the
European Commission in Bangkok, said the ability to comply with
intellectual property rights rules would help developing nations
take part in global trade.
ECAP II would help ASEAN countries "draw on European expertise
in how to protect and enforce intellectual property rights" in
compliance with World Trade Organization rules, he said in a
statement.
"Such rights form one of the basic pillars upon which business
and investor confidence are based. They are an essential tool for
any country's economic development and through their
implementation may help boost European investment in the region
back to pre-crisis levels."
European Patents Office president Ingo Kober said it was vital
that Southeast Asian states introduced proper legal and technical
infrastructure to defend trademarks.
"These structures are developing in ASEAN countries, clearly
there's a much larger interest than there was 20 or 30 years
ago," he said, but adding that the performance of some nations
was better than others.
"There are countries which in a number of aspects are still
developing. I think one should not try to tell them how far they
are lagging behind."
Kober said the two-day symposium, which brought together 50
experts in the field, "is further proof of the growing importance
of IPR protection to world trade." --AFP