Национальная группа

A Congress open to all Members is scheduled every two years. Normally, about 2000 Members attend with around 1000 accompanying persons. Recent venues include Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Geneva and Gothenburg. The 2008 Congress will be held in Boston. This two-year cycle is a change from the previous three-year cycle and responds to the increasing pace of international developments. At a Congress, pending Questions concerning international law are discussed and decisions taken on a consensus basis. At the same time, a Congress serves as a forum for workshops which offer valuable educational programs for the participants.

The Executive Committee convenes at each Congress and also in the years in between. The Council of Presidents also meets annually during each Congress and each intervening Executive Committee Meeting. This provides continuity of broadly based decision taking.

AIPPI has recently instituted a Forum which will meet every other year immediately preceding an Executive Committee Meeting. These are open to all Members but also to Non-Members and provide educational programs of current interest as well as networking among participants. In 2007, the Executive Committee Meeting and Forum are in Singapore.

AIPPI publishes the results of its substantive work in a Yearbook, prepared after each International Meeting. The Yearbook is distributed free of charge to Members and selected scientific institutions. Non-Members can obtain it from the General Secretariat at a cost of CHF 30.—

All international Reports are published in the three official languages of AIPPI: English, French and German. Resolutions are also published in Spanish. The Group Reports are published only in one language but each is accompanied by a summary in the other languages.

In order to keep the Membership informed, the General Secretariat publishes a Newsletterfour times per year. It includes executive summaries of the most recent international developments as well as articles on administrative matters.

This Website which has become an indispensable tool for all circles interested in intellectual property. Here, for example, may be found all substantive Questions which are currently being considered as well as those which have been considered since its founding in 1897. It also includes reports of AIPPI Representatives to various meetings and information on international, regional and national meetings along with a list of officers and committee chairs.

The entire Membership List is also here on a protected site for Members only.

Under the supervision of the Reporter General and the Chairman of the Programme Committee AIPPI conducts its scientific work, namely the study of issues of topical concern in the I.P. world.

Once the working programme is established, Working Committees are formed to study each pending Question.

The Reporters General team prepare Working Guidelines which the Groups follow in preparing their individual reports.

The Group Reports are then concentrated or synthesized by the Reporter General team into a Summary Report.

These studies are the basis for the Working Committees in the preparation of draft Resolutions and Reports which are then discussed at Congresses and Executive Committee Meetings. When a consensus is achieved, a final Report and Resolution are prepared for adoption by the Executive Committee.

Over 700 Resolutions have been passed by AIPPI. By those Resolutions AIPPI has had a major influence on the development of International Intellectual Property Law.

AIPPI’s Resolutions are published in English, French and German and supplied to WIPO, WTO and national patent and trade mark offices around the world.

In urgent cases, AIPPI’s attitude may be determined by correspondence, including e-mail. AIPPI’s Reports and Resolutions are regularly submitted to the relevant international and national organizations and serve as a basis of instruction to AIPPI’s permanent Representatives and Experts at these organizations.

Special Committees guarantee that AIPPI is promptly informed about current developments in specific fields and monitor the long range projects of international legal development.

The Permanent Representatives of AIPPI act as its ambassadors, liaise with all important international Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations and promote mutual coordination and cooperation.

AIPPI has regular high level contacts with international and regional institutions. In particular, AIPPI has annual Meetings with the Director General of WIPO enabling AIPPI to take account of WIPO’s proposals in AIPPI’s working agenda.

Furthermore AIPPI meets regularly with officers of FICPI and LES to discuss issues of mutual interests.

AIPPI endeavors to promote the development of national law in International Forums and Symposia and by direct consulting work, in particular in developing countries.

These coordinated efforts for improving and harmonizing intellectual property protection at International Meetings often lead to relationships beyond the purely professional which in turn deepen mutual understanding across national borders.

AIPPI would not have a credible reason for existence unless it provided effective outcomes from its scientific work. AIPPI’s members would not have a sound basis to attend its meetings unless they were successful in their own intellectual property work. There are substantial opportunities for networking between Members of AIPPI in its Meetings and representations in international and national organisations. AIPPI provides attractive Meetings which are effective in the networking of its members.

Some important examples are as follows:

• Promotion of Revisions of the Paris Conventions leading to enormous improvement in the protection of industrial property during the 20th century.

• The establishment of the Trade Marks Law Treaty (which is the result of an AIPPI initiative).

• The passing of Resolutions (such as the test for the Experimental Use exception in patent law) which are cited as authority on what the law should be in some jurisdictions.

• Delegations of AIPPI are established as active participants in all major international and regional discussions on intellectual property law projects — viz Patent Law Treaty, European Community Patent Convention, Directive of the European Union on Biotechnology, the Hague Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, to mention just a few.