Georgia will Vice-Chair 2020 WIPO General Assembly

Today, on October 9, 2019, the Fifty-Ninth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ended in Geneva, Switzerland, which was attended by the delegation of the National Intellectual Property Centre of Georgia Sakpatenti, headed by its Chairman Mr. Genadi Lebanidze. 

According to the consensus of the member states at the session, it was decided to elect H.E. Mr. Victor Dolidze, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, as Vice-Chair of the WIPO General Assembly in 2020,  it is a result of the active involvement of Georgia in the activity of the above-mentioned organization. 

Within the Assembly, an official meeting of Sakpatenti Chairman with Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, took place. Mr. Francis Gurry stressed the substantial achievements of Georgia in the development of the intellectual property system and protection of IP rights. He noted that relations with Sakpatenti have moved to a higher, more intense stage, and mutual cooperation has become more comprehensive. The parties also discussed the implementation of current and future projects, including the prospects and possibilities of employing more representatives of Georgia in WIPO.

Sakpatenti Chairman met with Ms. Binying Wang, WIPO Deputy Director General. During the meeting it was stressed that as a result of successful cooperation with WIPO, Sakpatenti has become the third IP office worldwide which has joined the WIPO-administered program “eFiling”, by means of which Georgian users are offered an opportunity to file their international applications electronically, which  will simplify for them the procedure of extension of trademarks to the member states of the “Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks”. Sakpatenti also joined the Madrid Goods and Services Manager (MGS), a program administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which enables the Georgian users, filing international applications, to translate the list of goods and/or services electronically into 19 languages, including the Georgian language.  

In addition, during the meeting, Ms. Wang noted that WIPO will continue to support Sakpatenti in finalizing the process of its full integration into the Madrid Goods and Services (MGS) system. This implies translation of the complete list of the goods and services of the MGS Manager, which will simplify the trademark examination process and assist Georgian users in drafting international applications by means of the “eFiling” system.

Sakpatenti delegation held meetings with the Director of WIPO Academy, during which the significance of the training programs, offered at Sakpatenti Intellectual Property Training Centre, including the advanced “Training Course on Geographical Indications”, was stressed. The latter was held in Georgia for the third time and again the course received high evaluation from the participants and representatives of the WIPO Academy. In addition, the project of training of Sakpatenti Training Centre trainers and development of study programs (TOT), as well as launching of the WIPO Academy Distance Learning Georgian-language course (DL101GE) was evaluated successfully. Besides, the parties discussed the opportunity of organizing the Master’s Course of IP law in Georgia in future and the possibility of translation into the Georgian language and customization of advanced distance learning programs of the WIPO Academy. 

Sakpatenti Chairman and Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) Mr. Christian Archambeau discussed issues of cooperation of Sakpatenti and EUIPO and ongoing projects. During the meeting attention was focused on launching of a project drafted between Sakpatenti and EUIPO within the Single Support Framework 2017-2020.Within the project, cooperation is planned with EUIPO for further elaboration of trademark and design legislation, drafting trademark and design guidelines, finalizing implementation of additional EUIPO tools and cooperation in other significant directions. Sakpatenti Chairman also expressed gratitude to Mr. Archambeau for the opportunity given to  a member of Sakpatenti Chamber of Appeals to join  Traineeships program for junior IP employees atEUIPO Boards of Appeals from next month. 

During the meeting with the representative of the European Patent Organization (EPO), the parties discussed issues related to signing the agreement between the Government of Georgia and the European Patent Organisation on validation of European patents (Validation Agreement), besides   future cooperation and prospects of Georgia’s joining the above-mentioned organization was considered.

Sakpatenti Chairman also held meetings with the heads of various intellectual property offices. During the official meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mr. Habip Asan, issues of mutual cooperation between the two offices were discussed, future plans and prospects were outlined. It was also decided to continue supporting participation of Georgian students in the IP Master’s Program offered by Turkey. At the meeting of Sakpatenti Chairman and his Moldovan counterpart, issues of signing an Agreement on Mutual Protection of Geographical Indications between Georgia and Moldova and strengthening cooperation between the two offices were considered.