57th Series of Meetings at General Assembly of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

From October 2 to 11, 2017, Fifty-Seventh Series of Meetings at General  Assembly of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took place in Geneva, Switzerland, which was attended by Sakpatenti delegation, headed by Chairman Mr. Nikoloz Gogilidze. 

During the  General Assembly, Mr. Nikoloz Gogilidze was elected as the Chair of the Special Union for the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Union). He was nominated for the position of the Chair of the Union by the Central European and Baltic States Group (CEBS). It is noteworthy that a representative of Georgia is heading a WIPO Union for the first time.

Within the Assembly, an official meeting of Sakpatenti Chairman with Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, took place. At the meeting the parties discussed the current and future projects. The high evaluation was given to the activities of the Intellectual Property Training Centre, established  at Sakpatenti, and the process of drafting the national IP strategy of Georgia. Mr. Francis Gurry stressed the substantial achievements of Georgia in further development of the intellectual property system and IPR protection.

Sakpatenti Chairman also met with Ms. Binying Wang, WIPO Deputy Director General. During the meeting it was decided that Georgia will be the third country in the world where the Madrid Efiling system will be introduced. It was also noted that WIPO will continue to support Sakpatenti in integration into the Madrid Goods and Services (MGS) program.

Practical issues of integration of Sakpatenti into the WIPO program – “WIPO Match” were discussed during the meeting of Sakpatenti delegation with Mr. Mario Matus, Deputy Director General of WIPO. 

Sakpatenti delegation held meetings with the Director of WIPO Academy and heads of various structural units, during which the significance of the training programs, offered at Sakpatenti Intellectual Property Training Centre, including the advanced “Training Course on Geographical Indications”, and the necessity of their repetition in 2018 were noted.

Sakpatenti Chairman and Mr. Christian Archambeau, Deputy Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property (EUIPO), discussed issues of cooperation of Sakpatenti and EUIPO.  Discussion  was focused on the ongoing and future projects of Sakpatenti-EUIPO cooperation. It is noteworthy that in addition to the EUIPO tools: TMview, DesignView and TMclass, which have been integrated at Sakpatenti within the framework of the cooperation between the EUIPO and SAKPATENTI, new tools such as CESTO, Forecasting, Quality etc, are in the process of integration as well.

During the official meeting of Mr. Nikoloz Gogilidze with his Turkish counterpart Mr. Habip Asan, issues of mutual cooperation between the two offices were considered, and future plans and prospects were outlined. It was planned to hold the Regional Seminar on Geographical Indications, organized by the two parties, in 2018 in Georgia. As a result of the meeting it was also decided that participation of Georgian students in the Master’s Program on intellectual property in Turkey will be supported in future as well. 

The official meeting between Sakpatenti Chairman and Ms. Gunel Sevdimaliyeva, Acting Director General of Patent and Trademarks Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan was held during the General Assembly. On a meeting parties  stressed the significance of cooperation between the offices of the two countries and outlined future plans. In addition, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed. 

Mr. Mykhailo Titarchuk, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, and Mr. Nikoloz Gogilidze signed a Memorandum “Regarding the Recognition of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute” as the Authority Competent for Carrying out an International Search and International Preliminary Examination”.

Within the Assembly, a reception “Follow Georgia” was held on behalf of Georgia, where the delegates had an opportunity to familiarize with the work of Georgian musical Band “Shin” and oeuvres of modern artist Ms. Tamar Kvesitadze.