Colloquium for Judges on IP Law, 21-23 September 2004, Manila

The Philippine Judicial Academy, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines jointly formulated the core content of the colloquium aimed at raising awareness among commercial court judges about the importance of IPR enforcement to local industry and national economic development. The activity helped to expand knowledge at a judicial level on the various international IP-related agreements signed by the Philippines, especially TRIPS, and the impact of these commitments on their daily work as well as the national legal system. A group of 50 judges from all over the Philippines gathered in Manila. Three experts from Europe speaking at this event were Mr. Richard Arnold Q.C. and Judge Michael Fysh Q.C, S.C. from the UK, with Dr. Silke Lewinski from the Max Planck Institute in Munich.

Here are what some of the participants said about the event. Judge Eloida R. Diaz found the colloquium to be “very informative”, and we can make use of the content as a reference and basis in decision-making.”  Judge Reynaldo Daway from Quezon City highlighted “the experiences shared with us by the judges from the UK which I hope can be applicable to IP cases before me” as the most useful element of the event.