I. The 23-rd session of the Administrative Council of EAPO
In the period of 8-10 November 2010, in Moscow, Russian Federation, was held the 23-rd Session (the 17-th ordinary) of the Administrative Council (AC) of the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO).
The session works was attended by plenipotentiary representatives of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Tajikistan, members of delegations, observers from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO), African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI).
According to the agenda, the president of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAB Office), A.N. Grigoriev, informed the participants in the meeting about the changes that took place during the year 2009 in the composition of the EAPO Administrative Council and presented its new members, newly appointed plenipotentiary representatives of member countries.
As President of this session was unanimously elected Mr. B.P. Simonov, plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Federation. Republic of Moldova was represented at the session by Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu, Deputy Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property, deputy plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Moldova in the Administrative Council.
The participants endorsed the EAPO Annual Report for 2009, the Organization’s budget for 2011 and the EAPO Development Program for the years 2010-2014. Also, it was noted that it is necessary to complete the Program with measures, aimed at developing the potential of national patent offices of the EAPO Member States, which are part of the Eurasian patent system, and at improving the quality of Eurasian patents, including by patent quality control measures to enhance the professional qualification of experts working in the EAB Office.
The meeting discussed and approved amendments to the Administrative Instructions of the Eurasian Patent Convention, the AC Procedural Rules of the Organization and the Regulations on working conditions of employees of the EAB Office.
At this meeting was also presented the report on the results of the seventh meeting of the AC Standing Working Group for Information Technologies, being approved the activity carried out by EAPO in order to develop the project of electronic filing of Eurasian applications through the national patent offices of the Member States, as well as the overall development of electronic services provided by EAPO for the national patent offices of Member States.
L.I. Voronetsky, plenipotentiary representative of Belarus, has been elected for a term of two years as President of the EAPO AC, and as a vice-presidents - the plenipotentiary the representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Finally, the EAPO AC has decided to organize an extraordinary meeting on the strategic development of the EAPO in the second quarter of 2011 and the ordinary meeting - in November 2011.
II. The 19th Meeting of the Interstate Council for Industrial Property Protection Issues (Council) and the Joint Committee of Member States of the Agreement on Cooperation for Prevention of the Intellectual Property Rights Infringements (Joint Committee).
On 11-12 November 2010 in Zvenigorod, Russian Federation, was held the joint session of the Council and the Joint Committee. The meeting was attended by representatives of eight member countries of the EAPO, and of the Ukraine. As observers were representatives of WIPO, EPO, EAPO, and of the CIS Executive Committee. Chairman of the Interstate Council for Industrial Property Protection Issues was unanimously elected the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Federation B.P. Simonov, vice-president - the plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Belarus L. Voronetky.
The nominated meeting was attended on the part of our country by Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu, Deputy Director General of AGEPI, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Moldova in the Council, and Mr. Andrei Moisei, Director of the Legal Department of AGEPI, the plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of Moldova in the Joint Committee.
The delegates of the CIS member states have submitted reports on legislative activities in the field of intellectual property, actions undertaken to combat infringements in the field of protection and defense of intellectual property rights. In particular, the audience took note of data of the customs services and legal authorities, and of key performance indicators in the field of industrial property.
Participants also took note of the Decision of the Council of Heads of CIS states on the Joint Regulation of the sectoral cooperation bodies, of the works on the draft Agreement on cooperation in the field of legal protection and defense of intellectual property and creation of the Interstate Council on issues of legal protection and defense of intellectual property, and conduct of ratification of the Cooperation Agreement in organizing the interstate exchange of information and forming the national databases in the field of copyright and related rights, signed at the meeting of the CIS Heads of Government Council of 20 November 2009. In this regard, we should mention that the Republic of Moldova is not a party to this Agreement.
During the session, the participants in the meeting decided to approve the proposal of the representative of the Russian Federation to grant the status of basic organization of the CIS member states to the State Institute of Intellectual Property of the Russian Federation (РГИИС), with the view of forming, training and retraining the staff in the IP field, being also approved the Regulations of the basic organization. Also, the decision was taken to grant the status of basic organization to the Institute of Intellectual Property of the National University “Academy of Law in Odessa”, presentation of relevant documents (including the Regulations) at the next Council meeting.
The participants in the session were informed about the editing of the CIS regional patent information product “CISPATENT”, especially was mentioned that on 17 to 18 March 2010 in Moscow took place the Council for Coordination of the Project on launch of the Regional Patent Information Product of the CIS States on CD-ROM, which participants have positively assessed the work done.
It was noted the interest shown by WIPO in the optical disc patents that meets the cumulative indices of CIS patents for its inclusion in the Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval - CLIR and its subsequent use in PATENTSCOPE system.
II. Regional Seminar on the Promotion of Innovative Activity and Support to Small and Medium Innovative Business in the CIS States
The seminar in question took place during the same period, within the joint meeting, being organized by WIPO, EAPO and the Interstate Council for Industrial Property Protection Issues.
The seminar examined issues such as:
- strengthening the capacities and priority directions for developing countries;
- suggestions and strategies on capacity building activities in CIS countries;
- WIPO tools on development of an intellectual property strategy in developing countries;
- strategic use of intellectual property rights in CIS countries;
- national experiences in support of innovation activities;
- EAPO patent information tools in support of innovation activities;
- the role of national intellectual property strategies.
The representatives of the Republic of Moldova participated in the seminar with the following reports:
1. “Strategic Use of Intellectual Property Objects” (Mr. Andrei Moisei);
2. “Support of Innovations in the Republic of Moldova” (Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu).
Details: