Would you like to be part of a historic event in Intellectual property?

The International Association of Judges was founded in Salzburg (Austria) in 1953 as a professional, non-political, international organization, grouping not individual judges, but national associations of judges. The main aim of the Association is to safeguard the independence of the judiciary, as an essential requirement of the judicial function and guarantee of human rights and freedom. Today the organization encompasses 78 such national associations or representative groups, from five Continents.

The Association has four Regional Groups:
i) the European Association of Judges (42 Countries);
ii) the Iberoamerican Group (14 Countries);
iii) the African Group (12 Countries);
iv) the Asian, North American and Oceanian Group (10 Countries).

The IAJ has four Study-Commissions, dealing respectively with judicial administration and status of the judiciary, civil law and procedure, criminal law and procedure, public and social law. On the basis of national reports, the members of the Commissions study problems of common interest to the justice process in every country of the world, on a comparative and transnational basis. The Association has consultative status with the United Nations (namely the International Labor Office and the U.N. Economic and Social Council) and with the Council of Europe.

The IAJ meets annually in a host country every year. This year’s meeting is going to be held in the United States for the first time in the associations’ history. The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) is going to host IAJ, at its facilities at USPTO, November 10-15, 2012. More than 300 judges are expected to attend. The theme of the conference is Intellectual Property Rights.  Given the leadership position of USPTO in Intellectual Property Rights, this event provides an excellent opportunity for select examiners to interact with the judges, and not only gain from their experience but also introduce them to a United States centric perspective.

To this end, we have accepted to be part of a tour of the DC monuments and cultural activities to be held for the judges on November 12th, 2012. We are looking for 20 volunteers, fluent in at least French, and/or Spanish (other languages will also be considered), to accompany the judges on this tour and provide them with a memorable experience of our cultural icons in DC.

For more information, please contact James Marandi, at James.marandi@uspto.gov

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