The International Trademark Association (INTA) has announced 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 25-29 April 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.