ACE/14: A Kaleidoscope of Ideas on Building Respect for IP
October 9, 2019
The fourteenth session of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) took place at the WIPO headquarters from September 2 to 4, 2019. A total of 245 participants shared information and experiences on building respect for intellectual property (IP) through 33 expert presentations, one Secretariat presentation and four panel discussions, making the fourteenth ACE session the best-attended session to date.
Mr. Bemanya Twebaze, Registrar General, Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB), served as Chair, whilst Mr. Ray Augusto Meloni García, Director, Department of Distinctive Signs, National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) of Peru, and Ms. Elizabeth Jones, Senior IP Enforcement Policy Advisor, Copyright and IP Enforcement Directorate, United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, served as Vice-Chairs.
Work program
The Committee continued its work program on:
- awareness raising, particularly in relation to young people;
- institutional arrangements concerning IP enforcement policies and regimes;
- WIPO’s legislative assistance; and
- WIPO’s capacity-building activities and support for training activities.
Under these items, specific topics offered ample scope for the sharing of diverse perspectives and lively engagement between experts and participants. Topics ranged from educational programs to sensitize schoolchildren to the dangers of counterfeiting, to judicial and prosecutorial experiences in IP infringement cases and the efforts of intermediaries in preventing IP rights infringements online and offline.
Reflecting the contemporary realities of pursuing balanced and effective IP protection, the session also highlighted the challenges and opportunities brought about by new technologies and the digital environment.
The Committee also benefitted from a presentation by Mongolia on its experiences with the legislative assistance provided by WIPO on the enforcement provisions of certain draft Laws, the first presentation of its kind under the current work program. The full list of topics and contributions can be consulted on the dedicated ACE web page.
The fourteenth ACE session also featured the world premieres of a video recently produced by the Trinidad and Tobago IP Office and the Trinidad and Tobago Music Company Limited, in cooperation with WIPO, to build respect for copyright and a short animation for young children on respect for copyright, featuring Pororo the Little Penguin, both of which were produced using Funds-in-Trust provided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.
Rolling out the red carpet: ACE cinema
On the margins of the meeting, the ACE Cinema screened some 50 anti‑piracy and anti‑counterfeiting awareness-raising videos from a range of governmental and private sector campaigns, including some videos produced by WIPO. These videos showcased the creative ways in which IP Offices and private sector bodies across the world illustrate the dangers posed by IP infringements and emphasize the importance of respecting IP in daily life.
Future work
The Committee agreed to maintain the current work program at the fifteenth session and the Secretariat encourages the continued fruitful and diverse exchange of Member State experiences under these four work program items.