The CEO of the International Trademark Association (INTA) drew attention to the association’s selection of Panama City for its 2015 leadership meeting, scheduled for November 17-20.

Speaking at INTA’s 2015 Annual Meeting in San Diego on May 3, Etienne Sanz de Acedo told members that “we need to make our message clear as brand owners as to how important it is to have good regulations, to have a secure legal system and to protect trademarks.”

The expansion of the Panama Canal was a driving force behind INTA’s decision to hold the meeting in Panama’s capital city, he said. The expansion of the canal includes the construction of locks that can cater megaships carrying up to 12,600 containers, effectively doubling the canal’s annual capacity.

“The expansion of the Panama Canal represents an extraordinary shift in how the global economy operates,” said Mei-lan Stark, an attorney with Fox Entertainment Group, who was president of INTA in late 2014 when the leadership summit meeting was announced. “The 2015 Leadership Meeting will provide leading intellectual property attorneys and business people from all over the world with a unique opportunity to see the canal first-hand at this pivotal moment in its history. Indeed, the expanded canal is going to be a global game-changer, and we will be there to witness it.”

Sanz de Acedo said that the canal’s expansion would  improve the economics of scale for the maritime shipping industry “with a ripple effect on all industries that rely on long distance maritime shipping. The expansion of the Panama Canal will mean a lot to brand owners.”

By Gregory Glass