On 29 September this year, it was held the bilateral meeting between the Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), Octavian Apostol and Director General of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM) of Romania, Bucura Ionescu.
The meeting was held at the OSIM headquarters in Bucharest and aimed to enhance cooperation relationships in the field of intellectual property between the two offices.
In the opening, AGEPI Director General, Octavian Apostol thanked colleagues from Romania for the invitation, citing the need for increased cooperation between the intellectual property offices.
Thus, during the meeting, AGEPI and OSIM delegations exchanged information on recent developments in the field of intellectual property in Moldova and Romania, reviewing the successes achieved by offices and the challenges faced at present achievement of targets.
AGEPI requested OSIM support in order to promote among Romanian applicants and those from abroad the system of validation of European patents in the Republic of Moldova, which entered into force from 1 November 2015.
In this regard, OSIM Director General, Bucura Ionescu proposed that AGEPI should participate with a brief overview of the system of validation of European patents in the Republic of Moldova and AGEPI services in the Symposium “Counterfeiting and Piracy in the Field of Intellectual Property”, which will take place in Poiana Brasov, in the period 19-21 October 2016.
Discussions have also covered issues related to the cooperation between the AGEPI and OSIM on conducting document search in the field of inventions and on the implementation by the AGEPI and OSIM of the Pilot Programme on “Accelerated Patent Procedure”.
According to the agenda of the bilateral meeting, the delegations have also discussed the developments of the international and regional intellectual property protection system; they have agreed to strengthen cooperation between the AGEPI and OSIM within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the European Patent Organization (EPO). In particular, OSIM has requested the support of AGEPI on support of the initiative of the Romanian Government on hosting a WIPO External Office in Bucharest. Establishment of the External Office can help strengthen cooperation relations between intellectual property offices in the region and can provide new opportunities for developing the intellectual property system in Central and Eastern Europe area.
Following discussions it was agreed on exchanging experiences in the field of inventions, information technologies, etc., in order to improve professional skills of AGEPI and OSIM specialists.
OSIM Director General also invited AGEPI specialists to publish articles in the field of IP in Romanian Industrial Property Magazine, thus contributing to the promotion of the national intellectual property system and AGEPI services.
At the same time, it was also tackled the issue of protection and promotion of geographical indications, Moldova and Romania having great potential in this area.
During the meeting, were also identified, priority directions of cooperation between the AGEPI and OSIM in the field of development and consolidation of the national intellectual property protection systems.
At the end of the working visit, the delegates assured themselves of mutual support and have shown open to organize other meetings of this kind.
We should note that AGEPI and OSIM signed on 25 April this year a Joint Cooperation Program for the years 2016-2017.
