The Program of Action on ASEAN Intellectual Property Cooperation for the period 1996-1998 was adopted to carry out the activities of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Intellectual Property Cooperation signed at the Fifth ASEAN Summit held in December 1995 in Bangkok, Thailand. Among the activities included in the Program of Action were measures to enhance and strengthen Intellectual Property enforcement, protection, administration, legislation, public awareness on Intellectual property, explore the possibility of setting up a common ASEAN Patent and Trademark System, promote human resource development and to encourage private sector cooperation in Intellectual Property.

To this end the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) has been established under the purview of ASEAN Senior Economic Officials (SEOM) to implement the activities of the Program of Action and to serve as a forum for regular consultations to monitor regional and international developments in intellectual property.

Some of the activities to actualize the objectives of the Program of Action include:

• The setting up of an Experts Working Group to study the feasibility of utilizing the ASEABWEB or other mechanism to inculcate information on ASEAN intellectual property administration, registration and infringement; the organizations of seminars and meetings to facilitate the interactions among ASEAN judges, networking among intellectual enforcement agencies and encourage regional or bilateral arrangement towards developing mutual protection and joint cooperation in the enforcement of intellectual property rights;

• The setting up of an Experts Working Group to look into the creation of an ASEAN electronic database on patent, design, geographical indication and trademark;

• The facilitation of information exchange on the procedures, practices and administration among ASEAN intellectual property offices, the feasibility of setting up of the criteria for well-known marks, the setting up of an Experts Working Group to look into possible models of design protection and exchange of views on issues in relation to the accession to recognized international intellectual property conventions;

• The facilitation of networking of institutes offering intellectual property training courses and exchange of visits among intellectual property personnel of ASEAN countries;

• Dissemination of relevant intellectual property information through appropriate activities and regularization of the publication of ASEAN activities on intellectual property in the ASEAN update; and

• The promotion of private sector to formulate guidelines for the promotion of creativity, consider the possibility of setting up alternative dispute settlement mechanism for the resolution on the intellectual disputes and encourage closer cooperation among the intellectual property associations in ASEAN member countries.