The delegation of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), headed by EAPO President Saule Tlevlessova, paid an official visit to the National Institute of Intellectual Property (NIIP) of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

EAPO President met with Vice-Ministers of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms. Natalia Pan and Mr. Almat Madaliev on March 29, 2019. Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russian Federation (Rospatent) Mr. Grigoriy Ivliev participated in the meeting as well.

The main topic of the meeting was preparation for the Diplomatic Conference on signing the Protocol to the Eurasian Patent Convention of September 9, 1994, on the Protection of Industrial Designs (the Industrial Designs Protocol) to be held in Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan, in 2019.

EAPO President reported about the progress in preparing the final version of the Draft Industrial Designs Protocol and holding a meeting of the Working Group on the creation of a Eurasian system of legal protection of industrial designs.

President Tlevlessova briefly informed about the main results of the EAPO’s activity in 2018 and provided statistical data on the use of the Eurasian patent system, according to which Russia and Kazakhstan are in the leading ranks for the number of Eurasian patents maintained in their territories.

Vice-Minister of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms. Pan and Head of Rospatent Mr. Ivliev were pleased to mark the increase of the EAPO credibility in the international arena in recent years and expressed their support for the EAPO efforts in expanding the integration processes in the Eurasian region.

The meeting revealed the coincidence of the participants’ positions on many issues relating to the further development of the Organization and the expansion of cooperation of its Member States, including joint participation in international and regional projects.

The participants agreed on further preparations for the Diplomatic Conference and identified priorities for cooperation.

During the meeting with the NIIP leadership the EAPO delegation got acquainted with changes in the national legislation in the field of intellectual property of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as noted the success of the Institute in the implementation of electronic procedures.

Colleagues from the Institute spoke about the great attention that NIIP pays to advanced staff trainings: NIIP experts regularly improve their skills in IP educational institutions, the whole personnel was trained in various courses of the WIPO Academy, about half of the patent examiners have been trained at EAPO.

EAPO President Saule Tlevlessova congratulated NIIP colleagues on the progress achieved in the development of the national intellectual property system, noted the high quality of Eurasian patent applications received from applicants and patent attorneys from Kazakhstan, and stressed the importance of maintaining high professional level of examiners.

The meetings held during the visit allowed the delegations to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation concerning IP trainings of experts from Kazakhstan, the use of search and examination tools, exchange of experience and mutual consultation of examiners, patent analytics, and other activities.