Sakpatenti Chairman Mindia Davitadze and WIPO Director General Francis Gurry Confer through Virtual Meeting

Chairman of National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia Mindia Davitadze and World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry met on May 13, 2020 to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on intellectual property.  

In a virtual meeting, Mr. Gurry outlined the measures that WIPO has taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the delivery of WIPO’s services and work program, noting that this was greatly facilitated owing to the digital transformation of the Organization over the past years.  

Chairman of Sakpatenti informed the Director General about the remote working conditions of Sakpatenti, that resulted from the COVID-19 situation in the world and the state of emergency announced by government of Georgia. He said Sakpatenti is among the intellectual property entities worldwide which fully shifted its operations to remote working and has not experienced any delays in the delivery of its services.

Mr. Davitadze expressed gratitude to Mr. Gurry for the support and assistance provided by WIPO over the past decade during Mr. Gurry’s helm of the Organization. He placed particular emphasis on the cooperation with WIPO in the framework of elaborating the Country’s IP strategy, development of the GI system of Georgia, support in establishing the IP Training Center and other global joint programs. The Chairman articulated readiness to remain very active on international arena and further develop IP system in Georgia in cooperation with WIPO. During the meeting Mr. Davitadze reiterated Georgia’s intention and eagerness to host the Worldwide GI Symposium in Georgia next year. 

WIPO is the United Nations agency that specializes in promoting innovation and creativity through a balanced and accessible IP system. It groups 193 member states. Georgia has been a member of WIPO since 1991. WIPO provide a forum for its member states to elaborate global IP policy, provides effective and balanced development of international intellectual property system. It supports counties innovative and creativity development. Georgia is represented at WIPO by the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – Sakpatenti.