The IACC Annual Conference this year was a huge success with record attendance of 550 attendees from across 45 countries! Over three days, attendees learned from and interacted with over 80 IP expert speakers from around the world through five panel sessions and 17 workshops. Participants not only gained knowledge during the sessions, but also reconnected with friends and colleagues, and met new friends.
Thank you to our Conference Co-Chairs, keynote speakers, sessions speakers and moderators, sponsors, exhibitors, and all attendees who made this Annual Conference such a success and a joyous time. You can review the full agenda HERE. See below for some additional highlights.
Can't wait for IACC 2023? Neither can we! Stay tuned for information on next year's event.
IACC Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary for RogueBlock
Ten years ago, the IACC and the world's largest credit card companies and payment providers launched a coordinated effort to hit counterfeiters where it hurts most - their wallets. As a global program, IACC RogueBlock harnesses the power of partnerships to cut off the ability of counterfeiters to collect illicit gains from their illicit activity. Together with our partners, we've implemented more than 8,400 terminations impacting entire networks of websites and merchant accounts used to sell fakes.
During a special anniversary panel session, IACC staff was joined by longtime program partners, Visa and Mastercard, and program participant, Vera Bradley, who spoke to their experiences and learnings from the program.
The IACC organized a special breakfast with Alibaba President, Michael Evans, during which 25+ brands across all industries were able to raise concerns and comments, and speak openly with top leadership at Alibaba. Senior law enforcement from the U.S., Italy and the United Kingdom also attended the breakfast to support the IACC's continued efforts to bring together stakeholders from across all sectors in the fight against fakes.
IACC SME Brand Protection Toolkit
Launched at Conference
During the conference, we launched our new SME Brand Protection Toolkit designed to give small businesses practical brand protection tips and guidance. The Toolkit was brought "to life" through our SME Track at the conference, which featured in-depth discussions on how companies can prevent, detect and enforcement against counterfeiting and piracy online and offline.
The toolkit, developed with the IACC SME Task Force, is accessible to everyone free of charge. Stay tuned for additional programing and resources related to the Toolkit.
A Mini Latin America Summit at the Annual Conference
In lieu of our annual LatAm Summit, we featured a LatAm Track at the conference during which one panel and three workshops focused on regional brand protection issues. Industry and government speakers from Panama, Paraguay, Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Curacao, among other countries shared their perspectives and experiences.
Thank you to our partners at U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and National IPR Coordination Center, who brought 18 agents and representatives from HSI's Transnational Criminal Investigative Units (TCIU) from Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, and Dominican Republic to participate in the conference and engage with industry attendees.
