From September 19-21, the 15th International IP Crime Conference was co-hosted by INTERPOL and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) in Seoul, Korea, in partnership with Underwriters Laboratories. QBPC attended the event as silver sponsor.
450 people including law enforcement officials, security and industry experts from 70 countries and nine organizations participated in the conference. The conference covered diverse topics, such as operational and investigative support to fight IP crime globally, combating online IP crimes, initiatives to securing the global supply chain, understanding money laundering aspects and piracy, pharmaceuticals – consumer health and safety, women in IP, innovative solutions working with online platforms, IP crime and capacity building, etc. The participants also witnessed the International IP Crime Investigators College Awards Ceremony.
QBPC Chair Michael Ding presided over the panel session of " Food, Beverages & other Consumer Goods ". In his speech, Michael stressed that the role of QBPC as an international bridge was crucial for all stakeholders to jointly combat infringement and counterfeiting, and protect the legitimate rights of right holders as well as the health and safety of consumers. He briefed the guests on the smooth communication and close cooperation between QBPC and relevant Chinese government departments, judicial organs and enforcement authorities. Furthermore, Michael briefly introduced several successful cases related to consumer goods and service of QBPC members' brands.
As for the cooperation and sharing emphasized by speakers in many sessions of the conference, Michael said that QBPC, as a professional intellectual property platform, aimed to promote communication and cooperation between members and law enforcement departments, e-commerce platforms and social media in order to crack down on infringement and counterfeiting more efficiently and severely.
QBPC Chair Michael Ding (ABB) and Vice Chair William Mansfield (ABRO) leveraged the event to have in-depth discussion with the representatives from the headquarters of QBPC member companies including Dolby Laboratories, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm, Levi Strauss &Co., Merck Sharp & Dohme, Samsung Electronics, S. C. Johnson & Son and Underwriters Laboratories. Meanwhile, QBPC was also presented to representatives from Moderna and Adobe so that they could better understand the value and positioning of QBPC.
During the conference, nearly 80 guests from international law enforcement departments and organizations, such as Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG), Brand Owners Protection Group (BPG), Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Center (A-CAPP), International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI) and World Customs Organization (WCO), visited the QBPC booth and exchanged with QBPC representatives. They commended the work done by QBPC and believed it reflected one of the key directions of QBPC, which was to play the role of a bridge for international exchanges, displaying the latest development and practice of China's IPR protection to the international community as well as bringing back constructive comments and experiences to the relevant domestic departments. Thus QBPC could achieve its objective of "China Depth and Global Width", and assist China's IPR protection to reach a new level.