Representatives of Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) were Hosted at Sakpatenti
September 13, 2022
Ms. Nino Chikovani, Acting Chairperson of Sakpatenti, Mr. Irakli Kasradze, Acting Head of the Legal Department, and Mr. Merab Kutsia, Head of Department of Inventions and New Varieties and Breeds, held a meeting with representatives of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), Ms. Zeinab Ghafouri and Mr. Erik Thévenod, within the Georgian-Swiss Intellectual Property Project (GESIP), at the head office of Sakpatenti. The project is implemented with the support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and is aimed to facilitate development of geographical indications protection and patent systems in Georgia.
The parties discussed the capacity building activities for public sector, GI producers and producers associations. At the initial stage of the project, representatives of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property conducted gap analysis via virtual interviews with the stakeholders and all relevant public and private sector authorities engaged in GI protection system. Aim of the interviews and analysis was to identify and prepare proposals for the above-mentioned project. At the meeting attention was focused on the importance of effective use of geographical indications for the social and economic development of Georgia and the necessity of delivering better services to intellectual property users. Besides, during the meeting parties discussed the prospect of introducing the freedom to operate (FTO) search (patent clearance search) service, timetable and contents of training sessions planned in the framework of the project, as well as practical matters related to green technologies patent search were also considered. At the end of the meeting the parties outlined and defined the goals and objective of further cooperation.
The Georgian-Swiss Intellectual Property Project (GESIP) was launched on August 1, 2022 and it will continue for 3 years. The project is implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) in close cooperation with Sakpatenti.
