Sakpatenti and the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the U.S. Department of Commerce are Holding Joint Events in Batumi

On July 24, the 7th International Conference “Georgia Against Counterfeiting and Piracy” was opened in Batumi, co-organized by the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti” and the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The joint event of the CLDP and Sakpatenti was opened by Mr. Tornike Rijvadze, Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. Opening remarks to the conference participants were delivered by Mr. Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti, and Mr. Skip Mark, Senior Counsel, CLDP. The conference is attended by Mr. Vaja Panozishvili, Deputy Head, Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, and Mr. Zurab Sichinava, Head of the Customs Department of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance. 

The conference participants will discuss recent trends of transnational illicit trade and modern methods of preventing digital piracy. They will also discuss issues of copyright enforcement in the digital age. Attention will be focused on threats of counterfeiting foodstuffs, including threats and consequences in counterfeiting of spirits. 

Together with Sakpatenti, representatives of IP Offices of Armenia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Hungary, Estonia, Serbia, Romania and Azerbaijan are participating in the conference. Also, Georgian and foreign patent attorneys, representatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the U.S. Department of Justice, the  European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC3) of Europol, the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), the Alliance Against Counterfeit Spirits (AACS) and other international and local organizations are among the participants.

After the Conference “Georgia Against Counterfeiting and Piracy”, Sakpatenti will host a meeting of the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe Expert Level Working Group (Georgia, Armenia, Moldova), the goal of which is to identify challenges for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and develop recommendations for regional cooperation between and among the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.

On July 27, the Second Annual Trans-Caspian Intellectual Property Forum will be held, during which delegations from the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia will discuss regional challenges and progress of IPR protection and enforcement.

The final event - Workshop on Adjudication of Civil Intellectual Property Infringement Cases will be held on July 29-30. The workshop will be attended by 25 judges of general courts of Georgia, 2 judges from the USA and 1 judge from the European Union.