On December 14, a Press Conference and a Roundtable were held for the launch of the ASIPI-INTA impact study entitled “Trademarks in Latin America”. This event was held in the Chamber of Commerce of Panama and was attended by important members of the Press.

During the Press Conference, the Director of the General Directorate of Industrial Property of Panama gave the local press a brief introduction to the history of the trademarks followed by a series of general data related to Panama’s trademark statistics. The representatives of ASIPI and INTA then spoke about the work done jointly by the Associations in relation to the impact of the intensive trademarks sectors. The representatives of ASIPI and INTA also explained to the Press about the final objective of the study with a special emphasis on methodology and conclusions.

After the Press Conference, there were questions from the reporters.  Their main concern was the issue of piracy and the opinion of ASIPI and INTA on the results of the study regarding the importance of trademarks to fight counterfeiting taking into consideration that Panama is a transit country for international merchandise.

The Roundtable was then composed by members of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries of Panama, the Chamber of Commerce of Panama, the General Directorate of Industrial Property of Panama, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama and the Department of Intellectual Property of Customs between which were exchanged reflections of the study and questions arose on the methodology. It is important to emphasize that the collective conclusion of the participants was positive and consider it very important to protect and encourage the registration of trademarks as they are a main ingredient of the economy.