Page 18 - 2017 INTA Annual Report

HIGHLIGHTS:
Anticounter feiting Committee (2016–2017 Committee Term)
The Anticounterfeiting Committee develops and advocates the Association’s policy regarding anticounterfeiting and enforcement issues.
• Held more than 25 policy dialogues across the globe to engage government officials and key stakeholders
• Introduced the Pilot Customs Training Program in the fall of 2016 and held four training sessions in 2017
Notable submissions in 2017 that go beyond trademark law include two to the EU Intellectual Property Office covering designs; two to the China National People’s Congress covering draft e-commerce and unfair competition laws; one to the World Intellectual Property Organization covering graphical user interface, and icon and typeface/type font designs; and a request to the U.S. Copyright Office for a meeting regarding logo registration practice and guidance.
In addition, in alignment with one of the directions of the Association’s 2014–2017 Strategic Plan, INTA continued through various channels to advance trademark protection. Among our efforts throughout the world were the following: INTA’s Board approved specific recommendations in November for Brexit negotiations. In Germany, Portugal, and Spain, we supported an improved trademark draft law in line with implementing the new EU Trade Marks Directive. In Ukraine and Turkey, we advocated for more efficient protection and enforcement of trademark rights. In India, many of the Association’s comments on the draft Trade Mark Rules were incorporated in the final Rules, which became effective in March. In Latin America, INTA conducted an IP Examiners Training Workshop hosted by the Paraguayan National Directorate of Intellectual Property
(Dirección Nacional de Propiedad Intelectual).
Providing Analysis
Of the seven substantive reports prepared by policy committees and published by INTA in 2017, three demonstrate the Association’s emerging areas of interest.
3D Printing: Key Legal Issues and Options for Change, prepared by a 3D Printing Task Force of the Designs Committee’s Designs Communications Subcommittee, summarizes the law of direct and secondary liability under copyright, trademark, trade dress, design, and patent law as it relates to 3D printing. The report recommends that brand owners and IP associations continue to monitor developments before advocating any changes to existing law.
INTA’s Data Protection Committee prepared two comprehensive reports in 2017. The first relates to the General Data Protection Regulation, set to go into effect on May 25, 2018, which is expected to have wide-ranging implications for European and non-European organizations that collect and process data relating to the offering of goods or services to EU data subjects (i.e., individuals). The Committee’s second report surveys the state of European data privacy regulations, and, with helpful case citations,
explains the complexities surrounding balancing trademark enforcement and fundamental rights related to data privacy.
The other four reports published in 2017 cover protection of 2D designs; expert witnesses in court proceedings for actions against counterfeit goods; famous and well-known marks on geographical scope of protection in Latin America; and famous and well-known marks on dilution in Latin America.
Publishing Impact Studies
Introduced at the start of the 2016–2017 committee term, the Impact Studies Committee commissions and coordinates research projects and studies on behalf of the Association, and has laid the foundation for INTA’s evolving research arm. To date, the Committee has published four impact studies—including three in 2017—that have been shared with members, government officials, other associations, and IP and mainstream media.
Demonstrating INTA’s continued attention to the issue of counterfeiting, in February, the Association released The Economic Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy at our Anticounterfeiting Conference in Hong Kong. INTA collaborated with the International Chamber of Commerce’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy on this study. The study confirmed that international trade in counterfeit and pirated goods will continue to rise, more than doubling from 2013 to reach an estimated US $991 billion by 2022.
In another area of continuing interest, INTA delved deeper into the expansion of generic top- level domains (gTLDs) with the release in May of the New gTLD Cost Impact Survey, a study on how gTLDs affect enforcement costs for IP owners. The study was, in part, in response to a request from
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