APAA 2017 in Auckland

APAA Council Meeting 2017 was held from 4 November to 7 November 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand.

I attended the APAA for the first time.

What is APAA?

APAA is the acronym of “Asian Patent Attorneys Association”.

It is the international organization consisting of patent attorneys in Asian countries.

It helds a coucil meeting every year in various Asian countries, and a lot of members participate in the meeting to see foreign attorneys face to face to make and keep their business relationships with each other.

This year, the APAA meeting was held in Auckland, New Zealand.

My Impression of the APAA

My impression of the APAA that I attended for the fist time was as follows.

1. So many people participated in.

This is not objective but just my impression.

But, I heard that the number of participants this year was about 1400.

The venue was always so crowded, I felt.   That may be because the space of venue was not very large.   It was not easy to find the persons I planned to meet.

2. The number of the attorneys from the countires other than Asia was more than my anticipation.

There were many participants from the countries other than Asia in spite that APAA is the association for Asian patent attorneys.

Although it may be the same every year, it was over my anticipation.

I heard from other participants that the number of participants from the countries other than Asia has been increasing for years, so APAA is becoming like INTA.

3. Asian attorneys usually attended and acted as a group consisting of their colleagues while most of European and American attorneys did alone.

I often found that Asian attorneys, including Japanese attorneys, were acting not alone but as a group while those from the European countries and the US were not.

It was just a tendency.   But I certainly felt the above and that it showed the characteristics of each nationality.

4. Not a few young attorneys attended especially from the Southeast Asian countries.

I was a little bit surprised by this.

I joined the reception for only the first time participants held on the first day of the event, and found and chatted with a lot of young attorneys.

In particular, I felt that the IP firm in the Southeast countries actively dispatched their young attorneys to APAA.

It is very good for the young generation like me.

My motivation for work was stimulated when I saw that many young attorneys in foreign countries succeeded.

5. APAA meeting should give good experiences to young participants.

There are many opportunities in APAA to meet people from various countries, communicate face to face in English and participate in international receptions.

We cannot experience these even if we work hard in our own countries.

That’s why my attendance to the APAA this time should have enriched my career and life.

I really hope that more young people have such opportunities easily.

My Impression of the First Trip to New Zealand

I felt that New Zealand was a good place for Japanese tourists.

That’s because there are both a convenient and sophisticated city with nice ocean views in Auckland and beautiful and magnificent nature (especially, fields of grass!) in the countryside.   The condition of climate was so comfortable in November.

The view of countryside from the airplane

Harbor area in the north part of Auckland

Queens Street

Albert Park

T-bone Steak

Many cows and sheeps everywhere!