US Patent & Trademark Office: USPTO Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA), Visiting Scholars Program

Location: Alexandria, VA. Training Recipient: copyright officials, trademark officials, patent officials, and others.

The USPTO Visiting Scholars Program provides participants from over 30 foreign countries with two weeks of classroom and hands-on study of the United States' system for protecting intellectual property.

Past participants include directors and deputy directors of industrial property offices, patent and trademark examiners, and other experts from developing countries.

The goals of the program are threefold: a) To foster a better understanding of international intellectual property obligations and norms; b) Using the U.S. system as an example, to expose participants to at least one method of providing WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement-level protection for a variety of intellectual property disciplines; and c) To promote discussion of intellectual-property issues in a friendly and supportive environment.

Sponsors: U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).