South Africa will be the proud host of the 2010 LESI Conference which is an international conference about intellectual property licensing. This honour has now been bestowed upon the country for the second time in a decade.

The LESI Conference to be held in April 2010 will have as focus commercialisation of intellectual property inclusive of financial aspects, legal issues, and collaboration. Attendants to the LESI Conference will come from almost all sectors in the global economy including that of IT, banking, medicine, environmental, scientific and more to discuss issues regarding branding, commercialisation, licensing etc.

Sandton will play host to the international conference in the Sandton Convention Centre just before FIFA will occupy the same premises for the final discussions of the 2010 World Cup Soccer preparations.

One of the prominent discussions will be about the protection of well-known marks. Dr. Frederick Mostert will lead the discussion under the theme heading of “ Famous and well-known marks – how to protect them internationally.” Dr. Mostert is the Lead Counsel as well as the Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of Richemont. He is also the principle author of the book “Famous and Well-Known Marks: An International Analysis.”

Another topic that will enjoy the limelight is that of the legal protection of indigenous knowledge. The Honourable Mr. Justice Louis Harms, the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal South Africa will lead the in-depth discussion.