The International Trademark Association (INTA)
announced today that it has rescheduled its 2020 Annual Meeting and will now be
holding it in November in the United States. The change is in response to the
latest developments regarding the global outbreak of the coronavirus
(COVID-19), and INTA’s prioritization of the health and safety of registrants
and the community at large.
The
dates, venue, and registration timeline of the Annual Meeting will be
forthcoming.
Given
that the 2020 Annual Meeting will now take place in November, INTA will not
hold a stand-alone 2020 Leadership Meeting for member volunteers, but rather
will combine the Annual Meeting and Leadership Meeting this year.
In
mid-February, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, INTA announced that it
was postponing its Annual Meeting in Singapore, originally set for April
25-29, 2020, until 2022; and that it would be relocating the 2020 Annual
Meeting to a venue in the United States, in May or June.
“While
we originally had intended to reschedule the Annual Meeting for May or June,
and had planned to launch registration a few weeks ago, we held off because of
the fast-moving developments and escalating uncertainty of the public health
crisis,” said INTA CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo. “We believe that
delaying the Meeting until November is the most viable and most judicious
decision at this time. Health and safety is our number one priority.”
INTA’s
Annual Meeting is the world’s largest gathering of brand owners and
intellectual property professionals. The 2019 Annual Meeting, held in Boston,
Massachusetts, drew more than 11,000 registrants and featured more than 300
educational and networking opportunities and other activities.
