There were over 8,000 in attendance, which made it impossible to meet more than a fraction of the attendees. However, the conference was very successful bringing together a wide variety of the IP profession and users of the world’s IP systems, for discussions, education, dinners, drinks and, of course, meetings.
It was great to catch up with colleagues from Taiwan, China, Finland, France, Hong Kong and Singapore.
I had a very interesting discussion with Taiwanese attorneys, about their occasional frustration with the fact that Taiwan can be an afterthought for clients filing applications in China. Many Taiwanese attorneys have offices on the mainland, and frequently have better English language skills than mainland attorneys, yet filing patent applications in Taiwan itself is regularly overlooked. This seems strange, give the size of Taiwan’s population and economy (23.34 million, GDP of USD 474 billion) and the relative affluence and sophistication of its population.
Certainly, I am more likely to remind clients that Taiwan is not covered by Chinese IP (a misapprehension which I have known some clients to have) and to encourage them to file their applications in Taiwan as well as China.
The experience of visiting Beijing and Hong Kong has certainly encouraged Franke Hyland to continue our increased engagement in Asia to better meet our clients growing needs in this region.
Adam Hyland
