Plans are set and registration is now open for AIPPI's 41st World Intellectual Property Congress in Boston from Sunday, 7 September 2008 through Thursday, 11 September 2008. The invitation and Preliminary Programme has been mailed out to all AIPPI members, and also available on the Congress web site at www.aippi.net.

The United States Group of AIPPI is honoured to serve as host for the Congress. We expect over 2000 participants. In addition to four formal Questions to be discussed, there will be two special sessions with prominent speakers, including a "Perspectives on IP" with addresses from representatives of three major IP registration offices, including Alison Brimelow, President of the European Patent Office, and representatives of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Japan Office, and a "Judges Panel" featuring Paul R. Michel, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, India, and a Japan IP High Court judge.

We will also have 20 workshops and five breakfast roundtable discussions. The workshops and roundtable discussions will include a five part mock trial of a patent case in five jurisdictions (the United States, China, England, Japan, and Germany), as well as workshops and on such diverse topics as famous trademarks, copyright damages, an intellectual property in traditional knowledge, and roundtable discussions on topics such as the intellectual property marketplace and women in intellectual property law. We will be seeking Continuing Legal Education credit in United States jurisdictions for the workshops and roundtable discussions.


There will also be a first class social programme that will showcase Boston, America's oldest major city, from an opening ceremony and reception in the historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Marketplace, to a cultural evening at the world class Museum of Science (preceded by a tour around town on Boston's famous "duck boats"), to a closing gala dinner celebrating the performing arts, inc, featuring America's orchestra, the Boston Pops, followed by a late night after gala party to celebrate the conclusion of the Congress.



We hope that our new programmes will attract attendance from corporations and young lawyers. Our sponsored workshop and roundtable programme includes six workshops and five breakfast roundtable discussions on topics of interest suggested by corporate and law firm sponsors and approved by AIPPI. We will be having a young lawyers/first time attendees reception at the beginning of the Congress, and a "Young lawyers' night out" on the town as an optional excursion the day after the Congress concludes.

Other new aspects of the Congress will be a Daily News bulletin that will be produced every day of the Congress, and two new $10,000 awards to be made by the United States group, the AIPPI Academic Award, to the scholar who produces the best paper on international comparative intellectual property law, and the AIPPI IP Award, to be given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the progress of intellectual property rights on an international level. Details of these awards are available on the Congress web site.

To make it easier to join AIPPI and to help increase membership, the national groups in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States will allow non-members to join AIPPI when they register for the Congress for an additional payment of $300 (US). That payment will include membership in the national group through the end of 2009.

As you will see from the registration materials, we have negotiated excellent rates at the Westin Boston Waterfront (the headquarters hotel) and at other hotels throughout Boston. We have also arranged a discount with United Airlines and the other Star Alliance partners for attendees coming to the Congress, and our travel agent can arrange pre and post Congress tours of New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

The early registration fee is a very reasonable $1200 (US). Early registrations are due 15 June 2008, so we hope you sign up soon! See you in Boston in September!