Recently, Kathleen Ryan had the opportunity to represent the Ollila Law Group at the Licensing Association Conference (LAT) in Bangkok, Thailand. The LAT is composed of over 100 public and private professionals from around the world who are involved in the licensing of intellectual property rights. Ultimately, the aim of the LAT is to provide greater understanding of licensing practices by providing a platform for members to share experiences and create guidelines in an effort to push toward a more innovation-driven society.

Ms. Ryan spoke about Regulatory Impingements on Registered IP Rights. Ms. Ryan explained the purpose of trademarks and how they are used, specifically in the area of alcoholic beverages. Mr. Le Marquer shared examples of how the regulatory impingements in Thailand have affected the alcohol industry while Ms. Laohaphan (of Diego) provided an industry perspective on such regulations. Additional representatives spoke on topics including IP management for technology, recent developments in IP licensing, and copyright licensing.

Conference participants observed a variety of insightful and high-quality presentations, all of which are now available to the public through the LAT website.