TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

Taiwan Updates

The Asian Patent Attorneys Association 14th General Assembly in Taiwan

The triennial Asian Patent Attorneys Association (“APAA”) General Assembly was held in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, on November 4-8, 2006. It has been a decade since Taiwan last hosted the grand event. Thus, the hosting of this international conference was of profound significance. Led by Mr. Thomas Q. T. Tsai, six representatives from Tsai, Lee & Chen participated in the General Assembly. Since Mr. Tsai is the former President of the APAA Recognized Group of Taiwan, he has taken great effort to assist the incumbent President in welcoming and receiving important APAA members from every country. Furthermore, staff from Tsai, Lee & Chen have also participated in the Organizing Committee for the preparation of the event.

Due to the size constraint of the venues in Kaoshiung, the registration was originally limited to 1100 participants only. However, the Organizing Committee was overwhelmed by a record-breaking number of registrants from the Taiwan Group, and numerous registrations from overseas. Therefore, upon requests from various parties, the Organizing Committee had accepted a total of over 1200 attendees at the end. Nevertheless, up until the commencement of the meetings, many patent attorneys from Europe and the U.S. were still trying to join this grand event through various channels; some even took the risk of flying to Taiwan and trying to register on-the-spot.

After the successful closure of the 2006 APAA General Assembly, former President of the APAA, Dato Kandan, sent a letter of appreciation to President of the APAA Recognized Group of Taiwan, Ms. Lin, on November 15. Dato Kandan expressed that this year’s General Assembly has been the most successful General Assembly in the history of the APAA. Under the careful planning of the Organizing Committee, every single detail of the event, from the selection of the venues, to the choosing and inspection of the excursion routes, to the execution of each activities during the meetings, let the guests and participants fully experience Taiwan’s passion and attentiveness. At the same time, the success of the event demonstrated Taiwan’s ability to host international meetings, and also emphasized the synergy of Taiwan’s people. Taiwan’s beauty was breath-taking, and Taiwan’s people left a great impression on the distinguished guests from all over the world. In conclusion, the General Assembly in Kaoshiung has had active and positive significance to the consolidation and enhancement of Taiwan’s international status.