INTA
and OAPI director general Dr Paulin Edou Edou signed a cooperation agreement to increase information exchanges and enhance joint educational initiatives between the two organisations. Through its trademark office practices committee’s OAPI/ARIPO subcommittee, INTA also launched a new ‘Africa Rising’ initiative to highlight the value of trademarks and their protection in this increasingly important global market.
Across the globe, anti-counterfeiting remained high on the agenda. The association’s most significant step was to launch its first public awareness initiative. The Unreal campaign educates teenagers about the serious harm posed by counterfeit goods and the benefits of trademarks, reaching out to them through social media and special events. INTA volunteers
are now bringing the Unreal
campaign to schools via a partnership with a non-profit organisation, Street Law. Under this partnership, INTA and Street Law have developed anti-counterfeiting
lesson plans
which will enable INTA members to conduct outreach in schools, starting in the US and then expanding internationally.
New era for TLDs Looking
ahead to 2013, there will be
some serious challenges for the trademark community online. The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will be
releasing the
initial batch of new generic domain name registries, beginning with top-level domains (TLDs) in non-Latin based scripts. These internationalised domain names (IDNs) are a
first for the Internet. In representing trademark owners, INTA has been a leading voice in the debate about ICANN’s administration of the domain name system and it participates in ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency. The association was a major critic of ICANN’s proposal for unlimited expansion of
the
number of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and is now working to ensure that trademarks and the consumers who rely on them are fully protected in this new digital environment.
For example, when ICANN published a list of nearly 2,000 applications for new gTLDs in June, INTA’s Internet committee completed an extensive review of this list. Te group gave ICANN detailed recommendations to ensure consumers would be
adequately protected.
ICANN responded by proposing to strengthen its rights protection mechanisms (RPMs), and exploring new mechanisms to help trademark owners protect their brands and to reduce costs imposed by new gTLDs. Te Internet committee also advised ICANN on improving the accuracy of the WhoIs system which provides contact information on registered domain names—a necessary mechanism for brand owners to enforce and protect their trademarks. To this end, ICANN has committed to beginning a comprehensive review of WhoIs.
Finally, in 2012 heated policy debates about the value of IP took place in Europe and the US. These debates were often fuelled by misconceptions, particularly concerning the user experience on the Internet. This played a significant role in the European Parliament’s rejection of
the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). In the year ahead, INTA
will respond to such challenges by stepping up engagement with the public about IP, especially with respect to trademarks and the Internet.
It is through meaningful engagement with all stakeholders, including the public, that we can dispel negative perceptions and develop balanced policy that protects the interests of consumers, trademark owners and Internet users.
Alan Drewsen is executive director of INTA. He can be contacted via Gillian Econopouly, INTA’s Communications Manager:
geconopouly@inta.org
Alan C. Drewsen became INTA’s executive director in 1998, aſter working in private practice as senior vice president and general counsel of Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield. He earned a BA from Denison University and a JD from Yale Law School. In 2012, Drewsen was elected to the IP Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from World Trademark Review.
www.worldipreview.com
World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013
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