A festive meeting dedicated to the World Intellectual Property Day was held on 26 April this year, at the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI). The event was attended by representatives of the central public authorities, representatives of the institutions in the sphere of science and innovation, higher education, creative unions, inventors, authorized attorneys and employees of AGEPI.

The theme of this year’s World Intellectual Property Day is: Reach for Gold: Intellectual Property and Sports, and explores how innovation, creativity and the intellectual property (IP) rights that protect them support the development and worldwide enjoyment of sports.

The festive meeting was opened by AGEPI Director General Lilia Bolocan, who congratulated all those working in fields of activity directly or tangentially related to the creation, protection and capitalization of intellectual property, wishing them perseverance, inspiration and new achievements in professional activity.

Further on, Lilia Bolocan stressed that on this special day, we celebrate not only the enormous power of human creativity in the field of sports, but also intellectual property rights that help fuel and channel this force, making it an important driver of economic, cultural and social development.

The event was also attended by academician Ion Tighineanu, President of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, who stressed that “Moldova has enormous potential in the scientific field and we need to find as many levers as possible to capitalize on it. Intellectual property protection is a priority of modern society, and the implementation of specific laws by AGEPI only brings benefits to inventing and creating something useful and innovative.”

A congratulatory message came from Sergiu Harea, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry who noted that intellectual property is an important link for the Moldovan economy, especially for the business environment. With joint efforts, the Contest Trademark of the Year contest is organized to give trademarks a great deal of importance, and this year’s theme urges us to learn from the sports sector to work diligently to achieve performance.

Ion Daniliuc, authorized attorney, former deputy director general of AGEPI, congratulated all those present and said that over time, society is increasingly aware of the importance of intellectual property, and this directly results in progress on all dimensions.

Present at the festive meeting, Andrei Popa, Deputy Director General of AGEPI, expressed gratitude for the work and sacrifices of citizens whose activity is related to the field of intellectual property. Andrei Popa mentioned that he would like the sports sector to be valued at the highest level and the innovations in this field to be dynamic, both at national and international level. Over time there have been many motors, but all have one purpose: to find and capitalize on the opportunities of the field of intellectual property.

Furthermore, the heads of the AGEPI directions made a synthesis of the complex and multilateral activities of AGEPI held in 2018.

These include: starting the third (and last) stage of implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy until 2020; initiating amendments to improve procedures and reduce the time limits for examining applications for the protection IP objects; strengthening and developing inter-institutional cooperation internally and internationally. Also, relevant statistical data on the registration of IP objects in the Republic of Moldova were presented. And last but not least, it was mentioned the reformation of AGEPI, which in 2018 became a central administrative authority subordinated to the Government.

At the same time, the priority actions for 2019 were listed: further improvement of the regulatory framework in the field of IP and its adjustment to international evolutions; organization of the 16th edition of the International Specialized Exhibition “INFOINVENT” and the 4th edition of the International Innovation Conference; implementation of the joint interdepartmental information system that will ensure the exchange of interinstitutional data; continuation of the campaign for pupils “Studying Intellectual Property Can Be Exciting”; organization and conduct of training and continuous training courses in the field of protection and enforcement of IP rights for various target groups, including on the e-Learning platform; strengthening cooperation relations with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Organization (EPO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and with the offices of WIPO member countries.

Also, during the festive meeting were presented the distinctions obtained by the inventors from the Republic of Moldova at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, which took place from 10 to 14 April this year. Seven inventions exhibited by the representatives of our country were awarded two gold medals, four silver medals, and a bronze medal. The stand of the Republic of Moldova was assured and organized through the financial contribution of AGEPI.

World Intellectual Property Day is marked annually on April 26 in all member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization, including in the Republic of Moldova, and represents an opportunity to promote the role of intellectual property in encouraging innovation and creativity.

The holiday has been celebrated since 2000, and April 26 is the day on which the Convention Establishing WIPO (1970) entered into force. The initiative belonged to China, and the General Assembly of the WIPO Member States unanimously accepted this proposal.