Fifthly and finally, how much progress has been made with the earlier mentioned
attempts to harmonise the intellectual property laws of the region? At the height of the
Asian economic miracle, the ASEAN governments concluded a Framework
Agreement on Intellectual Property Cooperation in 1995. Rather ambitiously, the
establishment of a common Patent and a common Trade Mark Office like in Europe
was envisaged at the time as one of the ultimate goals. The creation of ASEAN
standards and practices was a further goal. The Agreement created the ASEAN
Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation and two sub-committees on
trade marks and patents respectively. The various working groups proposed in two
concept papers the adoption of regional filing systems where applicants will be able to
file their applications in any ASEAN office acting as a receiving agency and
forwarding the application to other designated offices. The working groups succeeded
in developing drafts of regional filing forms for trade marks, but progress in the
introduction of the system has been slow. Several factors seem to be coming together here: first, the fear of the relatively new intellectual property offices in the region to lose influence and important sources of income; secondly, for the same reasons the
considerable opposition from local practitioners; and thirdly, the argument that a
regional system would do not much more than what could be achieved via a
multilateral system such as the PCT of which most countries of the region are either
members or likely to become members in the near future. The most recently adopted
Intellectual Property Right Action Plan of ASEAN at the summit in Vientiane for the
period 2004-2010 confirms some of ASEAN’s earlier cooperation goals, but shows
altogether a less ambitious agenda with the focus for the time being on simplifying
and harmonising national procedures and creating opportunities for enhanced
cooperation.