Mr. Soso Giorgadze Met with Mr. Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Within the 65th Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Soso Giorgadze, Chairman of Sakpatenti met with Mr. Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO.

Sakpatenti Chairman introduced to WIPO Director General the institutional and legislative reforms implemented at the Office during the last one year as well as ongoing ones. At the meeting, the results of cooperation between Sakpatenti and WIPO and future plane were also discussed. 

Mr. Soso Giorgadze noted that to ensure further harmonization of the legislation of Georgia with the EU legislation and approximation with international practice, legislative amendments were entered in almost all legislative acts regulating intellectual property field. 

At the meeting, the fact was highlighted that for the first time in Georgia the Law “On Patent Attorneys” was enacted. As a result, a totally new, modern institution will be formed in the country, which will be focused on professional development of patent attorneys, introduction of novelties and better protection of intellectual property rights. 

Sakpatenti Chairman informed WIPO Director General that in order to fulfill the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations, amendments were made to legislative acts and at present the legislation of Georgia is fully harmonized with the “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled”. In near future, domestic legal procedures will be completed necessary to recognize the Marrakesh Treaty as binding for Georgia.  Consequently, access for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled to published works will be increased.

In addition, at the meeting the parties paid special attention to the joint project of Sakpatenti and WIPO “On Collective Management, Branding and Commercialization of Selected Registered GI in Georgia”, which was completed recently and was aimed to support producers of Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin products, farmers and associations. Within the project, the appellation of origin “Tushetian Guda” was selected, for its producers a number of training sessions were held related to specific directions necessary for effective functioning of the association.

Mr. Soso Giorgadze noted that in order to ratify the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, domestic legal procedures are underway, after which Georgia will become a contracting party of the Geneva Act. 

At the meeting, conversation touched upon the outcomes of the close cooperation between Sakpatenti Training Center and WIPO Academy and significant progress achieved in the field of intellectual property education. It is noteworthy that within cooperation, joint projects are being implemented in the direction of introducing the Master’s Program on “IP, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship” in Georgia. Along with this, the Distance Learning Course for Judges, the Train-the-Trainer Program and the Advanced Course on GIs Executive Programme were prepared. To align with the legislative amendments, fundamental renewal is planned for the online Course on Trademarks for representatives of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the General Course on Intellectual Property – DL101GE, which has been implemented successfully in Georgia for several years through active cooperation between Sakpatenti Training Center and WIPO Academy. 

At the meeting, attention was also focused on long-term initiatives and prospects for deepening cooperation, which will assist Georgia in the development and strengthening of the intellectual property system.