On 26 August, Mr Grigory
Ivliyev, Head of the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent),
chaired the 12th Meeting of the BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property
Offices via videoconference. .
The meeting participants summarized the work of the
Line Agencies over the previous year, shared the results of joint projects and
outlined prospects for further strengthening cooperation between the Agencies and
expanding dialogue on new aspects of intellectual property.
Being the Chair of the meeting, Rospatent presented a report
on one of the areas of cooperation – staff training for BRICS Intellectual Property
Offices.. At Russia’s initiative, the parties discussed organizing an annual
internship for intellectual property experts on industrial design scheduled for
October 2020 via videoconference. The Russian delegation informed BRICS partners
that the training courses taught by the Russian State Academy of Intellectual
Property had been updated based on the countries’ requests.
The meeting participants specifically focused on the activities
of the Agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, they highlighted the
essential role of digital technologies in communicating with applicants and
providing services. The Sides also discussed the measures taken to counter the
spread of COVID-19. The list of measures taken by each of the BRICS
intellectual property offices during the pandemic is available on the Agencies’
joint website.
Taking into account that digital technologies are a frequently
discussed topic at international venues, the Russian representatives proposed to
include digitalization as a permanent item on the agenda of the Meetings of BRICS
Heads of Intellectual Property Offices, thus launching a new area of
cooperation on this matter.
The meeting resulted in several key agreements, including the coordination of common statements of the BRICS countries to be presented during the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) events scheduled for later in 2020, expediting the exchange of information on the applications related to technologies to combat COVID-19 (submitted via the Agencies’ joint website), as well as including digitalization in the field of intellectual property as a new area for cooperation.
The Roscongress Foundation, a socially oriented non-financial
development institution and a major organiser of
international conventions, congress, exhibitions, business, social and
sporting, public, and cultural events, is in charge of organising events as part of the Russian Federation’s
chairmanship in the BRICS association.
Official website of the Russian Federation’s chairmanship: brics-russia2020.ru.