AAPA priorities 2024 series (6)

First and demanding most attention is EMPACT. With the current EMPACT cycle concluding in 2025 this is the time to gather evidence on the scale and impact of IP crime and its links to organised crime. The success of the campaign last time lay in putting aside differences to create coalitions of like-minded private and public sector stakeholders, including the EUIPO's Observatory on IP Infringements.

This leads me on to my second priority. I would urge all stakeholders – both private and public- to seize every opportunity to work together to fight piracy. Let us make it integral to every project, to every referral, to every operation that we assess and implement the opportunities for collaboration. The more we can share information, knowledge and skills the more likely we are to make deeper inroads in our common cause. This is really a case of “the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

As I retire I will watch with more than a little interest to see how AAPA and its partners rise to the perennial challenge of piracy.

Sheila Cassells

Executive Vice President