2023 WIPO Intellectual Property Judges Forum

Promoting transnational dialogue among judiciaries

The annual WIPO Intellectual Property Judges Forum aims to provide a platform for judges from across the globe to exchange their expertise on the most pressing intellectual property (IP) challenges raised by accelerating innovation and the increasingly transnational use of IP.

The 2023 WIPO Intellectual Property Judges Forum will be held on November 15 and 16, 2023. This page will continue to be updated with further details on the program, the speakers and information for participants.

Past editions

The WIPO Intellectual Property Judges Forum is an annual event organized by the WIPO Judicial Institute as part of the Organization’s work with the judiciaries. In 2022, the Forum brought together 381 judges from 99 countries and three regional courts, to engage with their global peers.

Attendance at the Forum is limited to judges of courts and adjudicators of quasi-judicial appeal bodies of Intellectual Property Offices.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Hybrid meeting

Other editions of the Forum

Practical Information

Program

Day one – November 15, 2023

Registration (8.00 – 9.00)

Opening (9.00 – 9.20)

Session 1: Emerging Issues in Trademarks (9.20 – 10.45)

Non-traditional trademarks
Trademarks designating geographical origin
Bad faith trademark filings

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-anderson — Winston Anderson
Justice, Caribbean Court of Justice, Port of Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

judgesforum2023-gomez-apac — Hugo Ramiro Gómez Apac
Magistrate, Court of Justice of the Andean Community, Quito, Ecuador

judgesforum2023-mulyati — Rahmi Mulyati
Justice, Civil Chamber, Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

judgesforum2023-Papasavvas — Savvas Papasavvas
Vice-President, General Court of the European Union, Luxembourg

judgesforum2023-Semini-Tutulani — Marjana Semini-Tutulani
Judge, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania, Tirana, Albania

Coffee Break (10.45 – 11.15)

Session 2: Emerging Issues in Industrial Designs (11.15 – 12.30)

Eligible designs
Industrial designs and their technical or functional features
Relation with patents, trademarks and copyright, and enforcement of cumulative rights

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-ferrao — Luis Manuel Ferrao
Former Judge, Intellectual Property, Competition, Regulation and Supervision Division, Court of Appeal, Lisbon, Portugal

judgesforum2023-gomez-apac — Hugo Ramiro Gómez Apac
Magistrate, Court of Justice of the Andean Community, Quito, Ecuador

judgesforum2023-kalden — Rian Kalden
Presiding Judge, Second Panel of the Court of Appeal, Unified Patent Court, Luxembourg; Senior Judge, Court of Appeal, The Hague, Netherlands

Lunch Break (12.30 – 14.00)

WIPO’s Work with Judiciaries (14.00 – 14.15)

Session 3: Emerging Issues in Geographical Indications (14.15 – 15.30)

Recognition and registration
Scope of protection
Unlawful evocation

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-hopperger — Moderator:
Marcus Höpperger
Senior Director, Department for Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications

judgesforum2023-gill — Dedar Singh Gill
High Court Judge, Supreme Court of Singapore, Singapore

judgesforum2023-melgar — Virginia Melgar
Chairperson, Fifth Board of Appeal (EUTM), European Union Intellectual Property Office, Alicante, Spain

judgesforum2023-rios-lopez — Yolanda Ríos Lopez
Judge, Commercial Tribunal, Barcelona, Spain

Coffee Break (15.30 – 16.00)

Session 4: Intellectual Property and Competition Issues (16.00 – 17.30)

Refusal to license
No challenge clauses
Comparative advertising
Remedies: to compensate, deter, punish or correct distortions in the market?

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-reyna — Moderator:
Jimmie V. Reyna
Circuit Judge, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Annabelle Bennett
Former Judge, Federal Court of Australia, Sydney, Australia

judgesforum2023-farrag — Moustafa Ahmed Farrag Hussein
Judge, Court of Appeals of the Assiut Economic Court, Assiut, Egypt

judgesforum2023-peco — Ángel Galgo Peco
President, Commercial Law Section, Court of Appeal of Madrid (Audiencia Provincial de Madrid), Madrid, Spain

judgesforum2023-peco — Márcia Maria Nunes de Barros
Federal Judge, Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

judgesforum2023-zhu — Zhu Li
Deputy Chief Judge, Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court of China, Beijing, China

Group photo to be followed by reception (17.30)

Day two – November 16, 2023

Special Industry Guest Speaker on the Metaverse (9.00 – 9.30)

Session 5: Generative Artificial Intelligence, the Metaverse and Intellectual Property Infringement (9.30 – 11.00)

Intellectual property infringement by AI systems
Trademark and design infringement in the context of NFTs and digital goods and services in the Metaverse
Copyright infringement in the Metaverse
Localizing infringement in the Metaverse

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-arnold — Richard Arnold
Lord Justice of Appeal, Court of Appeal of England and Wales, London, United Kingdom

judgesforum2023-reyna — Jimmie V. Reyna
Circuit Judge, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D.C., United States of America

judgesforum2023-zhu — Zhang Lingling
IPR Division, Supreme People’s Court of China, Beijing, China

judgesforum2023-burley — Stephen Burley
Justice, Federal Court of Australia, Sydney, Australia

Coffee Break (11.00 – 11.30)

Session 6: Rules of Evidence in Intellectual Property Litigation (11.30 – 12.30)

Digital evidence
Purchase of alleged infringing goods
Survey evidence in trademark cases
Preservation and seizure
Cross-border taking of evidence

Moderator and Speakers:

Moderator:
Prathiba M.Singh
Justice, High Court of Delhi, New Delhi, India

judgesforum2023-alhusban — Nehad Alhusban
President, Court of First Instance, Amman, Jordan

judgesforum2023-baylson — Michael Baylson
Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

judgesforum2023-faji — Olayinka Faji
Justice, Federal High Court, Lagos, Nigeria

judgesforum2023-hoffmann — Fabian Hoffmann
Judge, Federal Court of Justice (BGH), Karlsruhe, Germany

judgesforum2023-mizuno — Mizuno Masanori
Judge, Intellectual Property High Court of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

Lunch Break (12.30 – 14.00)

Session 7: Simplified or Fast Track Procedures for Certain Intellectual Property Claims (14.00 – 15.30)

Objectives of simplified or fast track procedures
Judicial efficiency of appeal proceedings: options and methodology
Scope of simplified or fast track procedures (e.g., type of intellectual property right, value of the claim, remedies sought, complexity of the case)
Features of simplified or small-track proceedings (e.g., shorter time limits, simplified rules for representation, pleading, hearings and discovery)

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-gill — Moderator:
Dedar Singh Gill
High Court Judge, Supreme Court of Singapore, Singapore

judgesforum2023-birss — Colin Birss
Lord Justice, Court of Appeal of England and Wales, London, United Kingdom

judgesforum2023-grotepass — Mabel Jansen-Grotepass
Former Judge, Gauteng Local Division, High Court of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

judgesforum2023-Josefsson — Carl Josefsson
President, Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office, Haar, Germany

judgesforum2023-newberg — Brad Newberg
Copyright Claims Officer, Copyright Claims Board, U.S. Copyright Office, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Prathiba M.Singh
Justice, High Court of Delhi, New Delhi, India

Coffee Break (15.30 – 16.00)

Session 8: Court Referred Mediation Mechanisms Available for Intellectual Property Disputes (16.00 – 17.15)

Examples from different jurisdictions

Moderator and Speakers:

judgesforum2023-wollgast — Moderator:
Heike Wollgast
Head, IP Disputes Section, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

judgesforum2023-chapuis — Malik Chapuis
Judge, Third Chamber, Judicial Tribunal of Paris, France

judgesforum2023-kim — Young Gi Kim
High Court Judge, Intellectual Property High Court of Korea, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

judgesforum2023-manson — Michael Manson
Justice, Federal Court of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

Zane Pētersone
Judge, Supreme Court, Riga, Latvia

judgesforum2023-gamarra — Heinrich F. Von Lucken Gamarra
Judge, Civil and Commercial Chamber, First Instance Court, Asunción, Paraguay

Closing (17.15 – 17.30)