MEDIA ADVISORY Contact: Kim Byars 703-305-8341 kim.byars@uspto.gov June 5, 2001 #01-22

USPTO SPONSORS ENFORCEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM ON TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (TRIPS) Monday-Friday, June 4 - June 8, 2001 9:00 a.m to 5:00p.m. The Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will sponsor its fifth session on the TRIPS enforcement training program the week of June 4, 2001. Since 1997, the USPTO along with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has provided law enforcement and other government officials from over 25 developing countries with a comprehensive program on formulating a TRIPS-compliant and effective international property rights enforcement regime. Participants will include` directors and deputy directors of intellectual property and industrial property offices, trade policy officials, judges, prosecutors, investigators, customs officials and other experts from developing countries. The goals of the program are to provide government officials with an in-depth review of the TRIPS standards for enforcing intellectual property; to assist government officials in developing effective IP enforcement systems based on an interdisciplinary approach in which civil, criminal, administrative and border measures work both together and separately; and to expose government officials to the challenges posed by enforcing intellectual property on the Internet. # # #