Announcement Concerning INTA’s 2020 Annual Meeting - International Trademark Association

As you know, INTA has been continuously monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in relation to the Association’s 2020 Annual Meeting, April 25-29, in Singapore. The health and safety of Annual Meeting registrants is our main priority.

We are announcing today that we are working to reschedule INTA’s Annual Meeting in Singapore until 2022 (date in 2022 to be announced).

In addition, we will be moving the 2020 Annual Meeting to a date in May or June and relocating the Meeting to a venue in the United States. We will provide an update as soon as we confirm details.

This decision follows the evolving developments, continuing uncertainty, and global concerns regarding the coronavirus, as well as guidance from the Singapore Ministry of Health to event organizers to cancel or defer non-essential, large-scale events.

It comes after much thoughtful discussion with our internal team and consultation with outside counsel, and in agreement with INTA’s President, Officers, and Counsel. We firmly believe that we are making the most judicious decision, so as not to jeopardize the health and safety of registrants, staff, and the public.

At INTA, we pride ourselves on being a community, and we hope that you understand and support our decision. We apologize for the inconvenience this necessary change in plans has caused you and your organization.

INTA will automatically be refunding the full registration fee, as well as exhibitor and sponsor fees. Given the volume of registrations and credit card processing, we hope the refund will arrive by early March. No further action is required on your part.

For hotel reservations booked through the official housing provider for the Meeting, bnetwork, please cancel your reservation by sending an email to [email protected]; bnetwork has informed us that they will reimburse deposits on hotel rooms booked through them.

If you booked a networking excursion or airport transfer, please email SingExpress Travel DMC at [email protected] to request your refund (less credit card administrative fees). They have informed us that it will take ten or more working days for the refund to appear on your statement.

Please be mindful to cancel your travel arrangements, hotel bookings outside of the block, and other plans or events in a timely manner.

As noted above, we will be rescheduling the 2020 Annual Meeting to May or June in a venue in the United States and are moving as quickly as possible to make these new arrangements. As you can well imagine, there are significant logistics involved in planning and holding a gathering of this size. We ask for your patience and will provide an update as soon as possible.

We appreciate the collaboration and flexibility of the respective government agencies in Singapore, the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, the Marina Bay Sands, bnetwork, and other Singapore vendors in working with us to reschedule the Annual Meeting in Singapore. We look forward to holding our gathering in Singapore in 2022.

Most of all, we hold in our thoughts all those affected by the coronavirus.

Thank you for your patience as we work through this challenging situation. We appreciate that our members and other stakeholders value the Annual Meeting, and we look forward to welcoming you to the 2020 Annual Meeting in the United States and to future gatherings. For further updates, please watch for communications from us or visit our website, www.inta.org.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.