Mr. Mindia Davitadze – It is honorable when WIPO Director General evaluates the activities of Sakpatenti positively

Mr. Mindia Davitadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti, met with Mr. Daren Tang, newly elected Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Mr. Mindia Davitadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti, gave an interview to “Interpressnews” on the outcomes of the meeting held at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva, the prospects of future cooperation with WIPO and the steps taken by Sakpatenti on the way of its formation as the regional hub of intellectual property policy, information and cooperation.

 - Recently you had a meeting with Mr. Daren Tang, newly elected Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). What was the purpose of the above-mentioned meeting and, in your opinion, how productive was it?

- As you have noted, WIPO has a new Director General, Mr. Daren Tang.  He took office from October 1, 2020. First of all, I would like to express special gratitude to him, as in such a difficult period he expressed readiness to hold our meeting. The main objective of the meeting was to introduce to Director General the Coordinator for the Central European and Baltic States (CEBS) Group. As you are aware, Georgia is represented at WIPO by the National Intellectual Property Centre of Georgia Sakpatenti and from January 1, 2021, our Office was granted the status to lead the CEBS Group for 1 year. Fulfilling the functions of the Coordinator has been entrusted to Mrs. Ketevan Kiladze, Head of Legal Department of Sakpatenti.

During the meeting we discussed various significant issues, shared our visions regarding strengthening and development of the intellectual property field. In my opinion, the meeting was in fact fruitful and productive, we have received very clear messages concerning active support of Georgia and our Office, which will further strengthen and consolidate our positions for full-fledged integration into the global IP system.

- What does granting of the WIPO Group Coordinator status mean for Georgia and in particular for Sakpatenti?

- The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. It is dedicated to making IP work and unites 193 member states. The cooperation between Georgia and WIPO started from 1994 and it may be noted with confidence that it continues quite successfully to the present day.

As regards the CEBS Group, it is one of the seven groups created to coordinate WIPO activities and to organize Committee sessions. The Group unites countries such as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and other countries of the Central Europe and Baltic Countries. Georgia is a member of the Group from 2015. It should be noted that before 2015 Georgia was a member of the Central Asian, Caucasus and Eastern European Countries (CACEEC) Group.

The status of the Coordinator of the CEBS Group is an opportunity for the country to coordinate and voice the position of 18 countries, including the European Union member countries, which, in its turn, facilitates greater integration of Georgia into the World Intellectual Property forum and also promotes the country’s positive image on the WIPO platform. The Coordinator will be actively involved in negotiations on various topics, will participate on behalf of the Group in drafting legal acts and, in addition, will have an opportunity to initiate certain projects, which will facilitate improvement of the intellectual property environment in Georgia, the countries united in the Group and in the world, in general.

Granting Georgia the status of the Coordinator of the CEBS Group in 2021 is a result of the intensive and successful activities of Sakpatenti on the WIPO platform, on the one hand, and in the direction of international relations in general, on the other hand. The successful work of the Center in the previous years should also be noted, namely, in 2017 Georgia was for the first time chosen as the Coordinator of the above-mentioned Group and the work of the country with the Regional Group Coordinator status received high evaluation from the delegations as well as the Secretariat and Director General of the Organization, which advanced the activities of the delegation of Georgia to a qualitatively new level.

- Mr. Daren Tang noted that he considers Georgia as a very strong and reliable partner. Which are the main directions of WIPO-Sakpatenti Partnership?

- For me, as the Chairman of Sakpatenti, it is really honorable when WIPO Director General evaluates the activities of the Center positively, which is obviously the merit of each staff member of Sakpatenti, who made very great contribution to the success of the Center. Along with this, our objective is not only to retain, but also to further strengthen our positions on the international arena.

It may be stated freely that cooperation between Sakpatenti and WIPO covers all areas and directions of intellectual property. I would like to especially highlight the cooperation in the area of raising awareness and education in the IP field, which is implemented actively in all directions, in school and university education, as well as training and awareness raising programs tailored to various target groups.

As you are aware, in 2015, also with the support of WIPO, the Intellectual Property Training Centre was established at Sakpatenti, the development and strengthening of which is one of the key priorities of the Center. From 2020 the policy documents of the Training Centre were drafted, the legal grounds for the activities of the Training Centre were defined, the new concept document was created and the biennial strategy of the Training Centre was approved. The strategy is adjusted to the process of dynamic development of the intellectual property field; hence, the document defines the main objective of the Training Centre – increasing the number of professionals in the IP field.

Sakpatenti Training Centre has been successfully implementing “the General Course on Intellectual Property (DL101)” – the distance learning course developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy and adapted in the Georgian language by Sakpatenti. In 2020 the success of the course was noticeable for WIPO as well taking into consideration the number of registered participants, high quality progress of the course and the number of the issued certificates. Exactly this success determined the planning of a regional meeting by WIPO, within which we will share our best practices with the EU countries. It is pleasant that Sakpatenti is positioning on the international arena as an entity, which can, in a short period, ensure such quality in the direction of educational activities that will serve as the basis for sharing best practices with other member states.

It is noteworthy that the joint project of the WIPO Academy and Sakpatenti “Professional Development Program on Geographical Indications” (PDP on GI) has been implemented since 2017. Within the project, examiners of IP Offices of various countries and representatives of relevant ministries are trained in the field of protection, use and control of geographical indications. One more direction – “Innovations Policy” has also been added to this program. It is also significant that at present the Training Centre, with the support of WIPO, is actively working to introduce additional training courses, including the distance learning course on Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (DL 302). I think, the process will be completed soon and by the end of this year, it will be possible for us to offer this course to interested persons.

- What are the prospects for future cooperation with WIPO?

- In parallel with the ongoing successful cooperation with WIPO, we are obviously constantly working to strengthen and deepen the future cooperation. It covers a number of areas, including stimulation of innovative activities, raising awareness and greater access to intellectual property education to further support right holders as well as small and medium enterprises.

At present, we are offering various training courses to persons interested in intellectual property. We have close communication with different educational and research institutions, with which we are implementing various projects. In addition, we are actively working to introduce training courses intended for various target groups; however we think that it is not sufficient.

Unfortunately, to the present day the Master’s Program on intellectual property does not exist in Georgia, which is a serious challenge in receiving high quality academic education in this field. Taking into account the obtained experience, we are trying to focus on advanced intellectual property training modules and we are ready to intensify cooperation in order to introduce the Master’s Program on intellectual property in Georgia.

Introducing the Master’s Program with the WIPO support will be a significant step forward in the development of this area. This is the practice implemented by WIPO in different countries. At this stage, the joint Master’s Programs are available in 9 countries of the world, where those persons are studying who are interested in IP education locally as well as from foreign countries. Obviously, we have touched upon this issue during the meeting and Mr. Tang expressed readiness to support us fully. We will start to work in this direction and, I hope, with the comprehensive approach and joint effort, we will certainly achieve our objective. It is also noteworthy that in order to protect interest of the vulnerable groups in the copyright field, we are planning to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

Intellectual property is not a stand-alone field. It is one of the main drivers of global economy and the economic situation of a country essentially depends on its development. That is exactly why Sakpatenti plans, with a comprehensive approach, including close cooperation with WIPO and strategic partners of the country, through facilitation of development of the intellectual property field in Georgia, to ensure implementation of effective policy. 

Besides aforementioned, Sakpatenti plans to host numerous international events in future, including the Regional Conference on the role of IP Offices in the modern world and the Worldwide Symposium on Geographical Indications in active cooperation with WIPO.

- On the whole, how would you evaluate your first official visit as Sakpatenti Chairman?

- It can be said with confidence that the visit was successful, we have returned to Georgia with tangible results. During the visit to the Swiss Confederation, we have taken the opportunity to hold a working meeting in Bern with Director General of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, Dr. Catherine Chammartin. At the meeting we discussed the issues of implementation of the “Agreement on the Mutual Recognition and Protection of Geographical Indications, Appellations of Origin and Indications of Source between Georgia and the Swiss Confederation”.

The above-mentioned Agreement between our countries was signed on May 31, 2018 and entered into force in 2019. The Agreement provides for protection of Georgian geographical indications, appellations of origin and indications of source on the territory of the Swiss Confederation under reciprocity principle and also defines the procedures related to their use and enforcement. We also discussed the exchange of new geographical indications registered in Georgia with the Swiss Confederation. After 2018, several geographical indications were added to our State Register and it is important to ensure relevant protection for these GIs as well in the Swiss Confederation. We agreed that we will complete preparatory works by the end of this year, after which we will start implementation of the relevant procedures. Apparently, the issues of deepening the bilateral cooperation were discussed and the experience related to the GIs registration process and the institutional structure were shared.