Stakeholders Consultation on Enforcement Law Amendments with Private Sector, Seminar on Practices and Training Course on Guidelines
September 23, 2022
Public sector enforcement authorities engaged at IPR and private sector representatives along with Sakpatenti and EUGIPP project representatives attended consultation meeting which was held in the framework of EU-Georgia Intellectual Property Project (EUGIPP) in Kakheti Region. In the opening address Ms. Nino Chikovani, Deputy Chairperson of Sakpatenti, spoke about the event and noted that it is very important to have a discussion on the draft law amendments in the public-private dialogue format, which is attended by all stakeholders, from one hand the IPR holders and by other hand authorities responsible on enforcement of those rights.
The consultation was based on the final conclusions of representatives of enforcement authorities and was aimed to discuss the views of representatives of the private sector regarding the presented draft legal amendments on IPR enforcement, identification of their possibilities in the direction of rights enforcement. Discussion took place on the border measures related to intellectual property, administrative, criminal, civil enforcement of rights, online enforcement practice and legislative amendments. The draft legislative amendments prepared based on international practice will facilitate improvement of the legislation of Georgia in the field of IPR enforcement and aligning to EU practice, which also implies rapid development of the intellectual property rights enforcement system in Georgia.
The meeting was followed by a seminar where representatives of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) shared with the Georgian counterparts the latest updates on IPR enforcement, European experience, and practice. At the end of the three-day event, EUGIPP project component expert Mr. Kenneth Wright delivered a training session for public authorities on the enforcement guidelines drafted within the given component.
EUGIPP is the EU funded international cooperation project, which is ongoing from January 1, 2020 and is implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The main beneficiary of the project is the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti”.
From the public sector the event was attended by representatives of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia (Customs Department), the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, the Georgian National Communications Commission, the Government Administration of Georgia, and the Office of the Business Ombudsman of Georgia.
Following representatives attended the event from the private sector: the Business Association of Georgia, the Georgian Patent Attorneys Association, the Georgian Distributors Business Association, the Georgian Wine Association, and the Georgian Bar Association.
