The Eurasian Patent Organization has celebrated its 10-th anniversary by holding the International conference "Worldwide patent system: current state and trends for future development" held in Moscow on September, 7-8, 2006.

The conference was attended by heads and experts of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), L´Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle´ (OAPI), representatives of national patent offices of the Eurasian countries and other world countries, patent attorneys, leading experts in the field of the industrial property protection, representatives of business and scientific circles.

M-r A.F. AZIZYAN, the Chairman of the EAPO Administrative Council, has opened the conference.

He has marked that an Eurasian patent is well-known and acknowledged in the world attracting permanent interest to it, the world patent system is a uniform body developing by common laws, that is why so important and vital to hold such meetings between members of the patent community.

M-r A.N. GRIGORIEV, the EAPO President, prior to making a report "The Eurasian patent system: its place and role in the world patent system", has expressed his gratitude to all conference participants, many of whom contributed much to the foundation of the Eurasian patent system and took an active part in coming into being and developing the Eurasian patent system and paid tribute to V.I. BLINNIKOV, who initiated, headed and pushed the process of the Euarasian countries integration into common patent system.

In his report M-r GRIGORIEV has presented a full-scale panorama of the Eurasian patents office activities and confirmed that granted Eurasian patents meet all modern requirements, they are reliable, successfully realized in commercial projects and provide investment’s protection deposited into the economy of the EAPO member states. Multinational staff of the Eurasian patent office comprising highly-skilled experts contributed much in providing granting high-quality patents.

In conclusion M-r GRIGORIEV has expressed his gratitude to the Government of the Russian Federation and to the WIPO for their permanent support at earlier steps of the EAPO activities and then in developing the Eurasian patent system.

Dr. Geoffrey YU, Deputy Director General of the WIPO, made a report "WIPO. Intellectual property and society based on the knowledge", in which he has acknowledged the achievements attained by the eurasian patent system and marked that the EAPO managed to avoid a maturity problem, quickly grown up and has become a full-scale member in the world patent community.

The problems of the intellectual property is considered by Dr. YU as a reflection of economic state in the world characterized by both partnership and competition for resources. “We are all in one boat, although we are different, and the world can not afford parallelism in its activities” -marked the speaker. By his opinion, regional patent organizations represent an example of cooperation for the benefit of the society.

Mr. Curt EDFJALL, the EPO Vice President, has devoted his report "The European Patent System: Trends in the Future" to the results obtained by investing into the European patent system during 10 years and spoke about tendencies influencing upon changes and stipulating the development of the european patent system. The creation of the European patent network (EPN) has become a new step in the EPO work, reflecting up to date requirements of the business society- mentioned the speaker.

Dr. B.N. SIMONOV, Head, Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patent and Trademarks has delivered a report "Development and Implementation of the State Policy in the Field of Legal Protection and Use of Intellectual Property in the Russian Federation. Role of Patent Office Aims and Prospects for Development". The speaker has made a detailed analysis of the strategic streamlines of the Russian patent office development pointing out that the reliable national innovation system is based on forming and realization of the state policy in the field of legal protection and use of intellectual property – all that need to improve the patent office work in accordance with the XXI century requirements and creation of favorable investment climate.

The afternoon time was devoted to the ceremonial procedures.

The EAPO Administrative Council instituted the V.I BLINNIKOV Gold medal “For Outstanding Achievement” in memory of the founder of the Eurasian patent system and the first President of the Eurasian Patent Office. The medal was awarded to those, who participated actively in forming and developing the Eurasian patent system.
On the occasion of the 10-th anniversary of the EAPO it was greeted by representatives of the WIPO, other international organizations, foreign patent offices, the EAPO Member States, patent attorneys.

Mr. Geoffrey YU, the WIPO Deputy Director, awarded the WIPO gold medal to the EAPO´S President A.N. GRIGORIEV for acknowledgment of his contribution in forming and developing of the Eurasian patent system.

The second conference day was also intensive.

Dr. Francis GURRY, the WIPO Deputy Director General, dealt his report with PCT problems, its current state and problems facing world community regarding the industrial property.

Mr. Thierry SUEUR, Vice-President, Intellectual Property and Vice-President, European and International Affairs of AIR LIQUIDE, devoted his polemical and debatable report "Worldwide Patent System: Beyond Expectation and Disappointment, the Views of a User for Promoting Growth and Wealth and Eliminating Trade Barriers".

After that Heads of two African regional patent organizations took the floor.

Mr. Anthioumane N´DIAYT, OAPI Director General, made a report concerning the role of patent offices in the technological development based on the OAPI countries.

Mr. Gift H. SIBANDA, Director General, African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) spoke about the use of accessible information technologies in patent granting and for distribution of patent information.

The last two reports were made on behalf of large patent attorneys companies contributed to the conference organization. Mr. V.N. MEDVEDEV, Eurasian Patent Attorney, Managing Partner “Gorodissky & Partners” Ltd made a report “Patenting Inventions in the Post-Soviet Area: Problematic Issues”.

Mr. A.V. ZALESOV, head of juridical department of “Soyuzpatent”, dealt his report with a patent as a means of competition in the Russian Federation and in the CIS countries at a modern state, touching upon the disputable problems of the law enforcement relative to Russian and Eurasian patents.

In the course of the conference the Eurasian Patent office authorities held meetings with: Mr. Gift H. SIBANDA, Director General, African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), Mr. Anthioumane N’DIAYT, OAPI Director General, Ron MERCHANT, Comptroller of the U.K. Patent Office, the WIPO representatives headed by Dr. Francis GURRY, the WIPO Deputy Director General, a delegation of the People’s Republic of China headed by Deputy-Commissioner of State Intellectual Property Office Mr. HE Hua. The Sides have discussed the present state of cooperation between above-mentioned offices and confirmed readiness for its further development.

On September 8-th, 2006 a meeting was held and the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Instituto Mexicano de la Propriedad Industrial (IMPI) and the Eurasian Patent Organization. The meeting was attended by Mr. Luciano Eduardo Joublanc Montano, Ambassador of Mexico to the Russian Federation, Jorge Amigo Castaneda, OMPI Director General and Mario Rodriguez Montero, IMPI, Director General of Support Services.

At the end of the Conference Round Table was held which has become a tribune for discussing actual problems of industrial property.