ASIAN PATENT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 ASIAN PATENT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION (APAA) c/o ASAMURA PATENT OFFICE, p.c. 331 NEW OHTEMACHI BLDG. 2-1, OHTEMACHI 2-CHOME, CHIYODA-KU, TOKYO , JAPAN PHONE: ~4 FAX: MINUTES OF 15 TH HONG KONG, 2009 GENERAL ASSEMBLY Date & Time: Sunday, November 22 9:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Place: Theatre 1, Level 1, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Chairperson: Mr. Alonzo Ancheta, President Honorary President: Mr. Masao Okabe Past Presidents: Mr. Kiyoshi Asamura, Mr. Myung-Shin Kim, Dato V. L. Kandan Senior Vice-Presidents: Mr. Kenji Yoshida, Mr. Greg Munt, Mr. C. K. Kwong Secretary General: Mr. Sadafumi Kobori Treasurer: Mr. Hirohito Katsunuma The participants for the General Assembly were registered as follows: Australia 71 Bangladesh 3 Brunei 3 Hong Kong 93 India 79 Indonesia 26 Japan 182 Korea 126 Laos 1 Macau 10 Malaysia 41 Mongolia 1 Myanmar 2 New Zealand 17 Pakistan 18 Philippines 60 Singapore 54 Sri Lanka 4

2 Taiwan 95 Thailand 43 Vietnam 24 Observer countries 430 Total 1,383 OPENING OF 15 TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY Mr. Alonzo Ancheta, President asked Mr. Sadafumi Kobori, Secretary General as to whether a quorum for opening the General Assembly was fulfilled. In response, Secretary General Kobori stated that there was at least one Councilor from two-thirds of the APAA Recognized Groups stipulated under Article 16.7 of the APAA Statutes so that a quorum for the 15 th General Assembly was met. Upon having received the confirmation from the Secretary General regarding the quorum, President Ancheta officially declared the 15 th General Assembly in Hong Kong open. At the outset, President Ancheta made the remark that all the members of the Association have done their best in pursuit of the objectives of the Association provided in Article 3.1 for the past three years during Mr. Ancheta s term in office as the APAA President. President Ancheta expressed his sincere gratitude for the support and cooperation which he had received during his term of office not only from APAA senior members but also from the other members of the Association and observers. He also expressed his great appreciation for the dedicated efforts and the good planning by the Organizing Committee and members of the APAA Hong Kong Group, without which the APAA Hong Kong General Assembly would never have been such a great success. STATE OF ASSOCIATION REPORT (SOAR) BY PRESIDENT President Ancheta referred to his publication entitled State of the Association Report (SOAR) which summarized the major attempts and achievements conducted during his tenure as President of the APAA. Mr. Ancheta mentioned that SOAR was a comprehensive report with regard to what he has done and aimed to have carried out during his office. President Ancheta mentioned that copies of SOAR would

3 be distributed to all the members of the Association after the Hong Kong General Assembly. He also added that the SOAR by the President should be kept in the records not only as the President s actions but also his personal observations along with the Secretary General s report. President Ancheta s comprehensive report SOAR as well as his remarks of recollections on his term in office were noted by all the participants of the 15 th General Assembly with a big round of applause. FINANCIAL REPORT It was informed by President Ancheta that the financial situation of our Association was in a sound condition and the financial report had been approved at the 56 th Council Meeting held on the previous day. The financial flow of the funds of our Association, including items of income and expenditure for the last term ( ) was introduced by Mr. Ancheta. The financial report presented by President Ancheta was noted and accepted by the General Assembly. APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR PERIOD Mr. Alonzo Ancheta, President announced the names of all new Councilors nominated by the APAA Recognized Groups for the next term, copies of which were distributed to the members and observers at the General Assembly. After reading and confirming the names of all the Councilors, President Ancheta put the Councilors list for endorsement and the new Councilors for the next term were approved by the General Assembly. After this endorsement, the attention of the Chair was called by Mr. Nuno Sardinha da Mata of Macau that there had been some changes of the new Councilors from the APAA Macau Group, which had not been informed to the APAA Secretariat before the APAA Hong Kong General Assembly. It was reported by Mr. da Mata that the two new Councilors from the Macau Group should be Mr. Nuno S. da Mata and Mr. Nuno Simoes who were said to replace the Councilors named on the list. The matter of this late development was taken up by President

4 Ancheta at the beginning of the 57 th Council Meeting. AMENDMENT TO APAA STATUTES President Ancheta stated that the draft amendment to the APAA Statutes prepared by the Statutes Revision Committee was thoroughly deliberated at the 56 th Council Meeting held on November 21. After which, Mr. Ancheta called upon Mr. Henry Wheare, Chairperson of the Statutes Revision Committee to summarize and explain the points at issue regarding the amendments to the APAA Statutes for the participants for ratification and approval. Mr. Henry Wheare, Chairperson of the Statutes Revision Committee gave the gist of the amendments conducted by the Statutes Revision Committee and deliberated at the 56 th Council Meeting. The main points of each Article of the draft Statutes with amendments were projected on the screen for clarification by Powerpoint. It was mentioned by Mr. Wheare that the draft was based on the extensive revision, in which he was involved, made in the year 2000 when the 12 th General Assembly was held in Cebu. President Ancheta expressed great appreciation for the hard work and devotion by Mr. Wheare and his Committee in drafting the revision of the Statutes. After the explanation on the amendments by Mr. Wheare, the participating members were asked to raise any inquiries and portions which should be further revised regarding the provisions of the draft articles. Each inquiry by a member was answered or discussed for clarification and the draft was brought to the General Assembly for endorsement. Ms. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan, Councilor of the Philippine Group inquired on the manner of voting as to whether the draft in total or by each Article was to be approved because the revisions comprised multiple amendments. Mr. Tan Tee Jim said that all the participating members should be given sufficient time for consideration and discussion before voting. Mr. Greg Munt, a Senior Vice-President replied to Mr. Tan stating that the draft had been studied and reviewed extensively by the Statutes Revision Committee as well as the Councilors who were the representatives of the APAA Recognized Groups.

5 At this point, President Ancheta sensed that SVP Munt s remark was not received well by the Assembly, particularly by the Singapore Group, as it tended to imply that because the amendments had already been discussed at the Committee level and at the Council level, there should no longer be any need for discussion in the Assembly. In order to avoid unnecessary debate and facilitate disposition of the amendments, President Ancheta took over the floor from Mr. Wheare and suggested that the amendments would be presented to the Assembly one Article at a time. If there were any objections to a particular Article, the question or issue should be raised when that Article is submitted by him to the Assembly so that the point raised could be addressed. This Article by Article presentation was therefore followed based on the summary entitled An Overview which outlined the heading of each Article. Since there were no objections nor new points to the draft, the draft amendments to the APAA Statutes, as a whole, prepared by Mr. Henry Wheare were declared by the President as duly approved by the 15 th General Assembly. OTHER MATTERS President Ancheta informed the Assembly that bids for hosting the APAA 16 th General Assembly in 2012 were received at the Bids Committee Meeting held on November 18 through the process of presentation by the APAA Recognized Groups of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. As a result of this bidding process, the city of Chiangmai, Thailand was recommended as the venue for the APAA 16 th General Assembly. Upon receipt of this recommendation, it was announced by Mr. Ancheta that the venue of Chiangmai for the General Assembly in 2012 was duly endorsed by the 56 th Council Meeting. Thus, the future APAA conferences to be noted for the next few years are as follows: Year th Council Meeting - Jeju Island, Korea (October 16-19) Year th Council Meeting - Makati, Manila, Philippines

6 Year th General Assembly Chiangmai, Thailand Mr. Farrukh Irfan Khan, President of the APAA Pakistan Group expressed his sincere appreciation, on behalf of the Pakistan Group, to President Ancheta for the great dedication and contribution which Mr. Ancheta had made to the Association during his tenure as President. Mr. Khan also added that he would wholeheartedly welcome the incoming President of the Association, who was to be officially announced at the 57 th Council Meeting. Confirming that the agenda had been fully covered, President Ancheta declared that the 15 th General Assembly closed.