SPTO and WIPO General Assemblies

One more year, the “WIPO Assemblies” have taken place. This is probably the most important event in the field of Intellectual and Industrial Property (IP) at an international level because it brings together the representatives of most of the world's IP institutions and national delegations of the member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

The Director General of WIPO opened the sessions with a brief review of the situation of Industrial and Intellectual Property in the world where there has never been so much interest and attention, as a result of the deep technological changes that have taken place. They have made intangible assets and intellectual capital more important in the economy. As well he spoke about the new questions raised I relation with the application of the current IP regulations with the emergence of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

In his speech he highlighted the challenges faced by all national and regional IP Offices, as well as WIPO itself, in relation to the management of the growing demand for IP titles. The data he mentioned were that in 2017, 3.2 million patent applications were filed worldwide; 12.4 million applications for trademark registration and 1.2 million applications for registration of designs.

The Spanish delegation actively participated in the plenary discussions highlighting the importance of the Spanish language and multilingualism within WIPO. Likewise, together with the French delegation, he presented a proposal regarding activities and studies on artificial intelligence and patents and also the relevance of the 2030 Agenda. Finally, he highlighted the coordinated and integral action that Spain is carrying out in the fight against the sale of counterfeit products.

Apart from the meetings in Assemblies, the SPTO held bilateral meetings with the representatives of the national IP offices of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay and Turkey to discuss future projects of cooperation, especially in terms of training and possible dissemination activities against counterfeit protected products.

At the multilateral level, the SPTO held a meeting with its partners in the European Patent Office and WIPO on the LATIPAT program, a program for the patent database in Spanish and Portuguese, and participated in the Intergovernmental Council of the Program meeting Ibero-American Industrial Property (IBEPI), to strengthen the capacity of generation and management of Industrial Property assets in the region.

More information