The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Intellectual Property (IP) Portal has been put into operation since May as part of efforts to build the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The portal, which is accessible at www.aseanip.org, provides comparative IP-related data of the region and each member country.

This marks a significant milestone in the development of the IP system of each ASEAN state and the entire region.

Sub-columns of the portal include ASEAN Working Group for Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC), IP activities in the region, IP data, important sources on IP, and international cooperation.

The one-stop portal also serves as a consolidated platform connecting ASEAN IP Offices and providing tools to get updated information on regional countries’ IP subjects and projects.

The ASEAN IP Portal was launched on April 26 in conjunction with the World IP Day.

ASEAN members include Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.-VNA