The group of 10 IP practitioners visited the Netherlands and the UK to meet MARQUES representatives, find out more about trade marks in Europe and share their views on developments in China.
As one of the delegation said: “We view this more as a family trip to build friendships between our two associations.” There is already extensive cooperation between CTA and MARQUES: last year MARQUES hosted a forum during the CTA Trademark Festival and this year CTA will lead a workshop at the MARQUES Annual Meeting in Paris.
CTA was originally a government organisation but is now an independent association. It is the only professional association in the trade mark field in China, and has 30,000 members. It aims to improve IP awareness, educate companies about brand protection, provide legal advice to members and promote research on trade marks and brands.
The delegation spent three days in the Netherlands, hosted by MARQUES Internal Relations Officer Ingrid de Groot and MARQUES Executive Team member Willem Leppink as well as MARQUES Chair Gregor Versondert. They then spent two days in the UK, hosted by Roland Mallinson, MARQUES Executive Team member and chair of the MARQUES Brexit Task Force, and by Nick Wood, member of MARQUES Council and vice-chair of the Cyberspace Team.
On the first day of the Dutch trip, they visited the AB Inbev brewery in Arcen in Limburg for a tour and a tasting. The following day, they were at the Benelux Office in The Hague with two deputy directors general present and three of the senior legal counsel for presentations on the Benelux system and on CTA.
Later on, Dieuwerke van der Schalk (MARQUES council) hosted a visit at Jacobs Douwe Egberts in Utrecht. On the third day, the group visited the Unilever head office in Rotterdam with Simone Pelkmans (MARQUES council) and Michel Rorai (Unilever corporate trade mark department) for a presentation on the management of Unilever’s trade marks. Finally, they visited Ploum in Rotterdam where Willem gave a presentation on border measures and parallel trade in the EU.
In London, the delegation met with MARQUES Council and Team members at Taylor Wessing’s office. MARQUES Vice-Chair Susie Harris of King welcomed the delegation to London, and Roland gave an introduction to MARQUES and the activities of UK members. Jessica Le Gros of Baker McKenzie and the International Trade Mark Law and Practice Team, Robert Guthrie of Osborne Clarke and chair of the European Trade Mark Law and Practice Team, and MARQUES editor James Nurton also took part in the meeting.
Following the introductions from both associations and over a buffet lunch on the 9th floor terrace, there was time for a general discussion. This focused on topics including online dispute resolution, online case law resources and opportunities for MARQUES and CTA to cooperate.
On Thursday afternoon, Roland arranged for the delegation to meet senior UK IPO representatives, led by Director of Registered Rights Steve Rowan. Senior hearing officers were video-linked in from the UKIPO's head office in Newport, Wales.
On Friday, Roland's colleagues took the delegation to attend a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice and to see Middle Temple and the Law Society before they were hosted by Susan Payne and Ashley Roberts of Com Laude for lunch and a meeting about domain names. Their discussions touched further on online dispute resolution and scam domain name registration letters.
We believe they just managed to squeeze in a visit to Windsor Castle, the venue of the recent royal wedding, before flying back to China in the evening.
The week of meetings and visits was very useful in building relations and understanding between the two associations, and highlighting potential areas for collaboration.
Issue 090
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