INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

The reporting year 1999 is a special one because it completes the five-year development period of the Eurasian Patent Office of the Eurasian Patent Organization.

The aim of this period in the work of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), a body responsible for all administrative functions of the Eurasian Patent Organization (the Organization), was to develop the Organization into a true regional international inter-governmental authority responsible for industrial property protection.

Attention was mostly directed at following recommendations, requests and proposals of the national patent offices of the states party to the Organization, and at following the provisions of the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC), chief aims of which are the establishment, maintenance and development of multilateral and bilateral collaboration for the achievement of the Organization's objectives and performance of its functions.

To different extents all the structural subdivisions of the Organization have participated in the achievement of the Organization's objectives in the area of international collaboration, with the coordinating role filled by the Department for International Relations and Cooperation with National Patent Offices, which reports directly to the EAPO President.

The above translates into practical terms as follows:

• Analysis of trends in international collaboration in the area of industrial property protection with the aim of identifying promising directions for such collaboration;
• Preparation of proposals and recommendations on the issues that are of mutual interest to the states party to the EAPC in the area of industrial property protection;
• Support for the establishment of close contacts between patent offices of states party to the EAPC, by developing proposals on new forms of multilateral collaboration in the area of industrial property protection and patent information services;
• Building the basis for the development and implementation of promising projects that aim at improving the regional and national patent systems of Eurasian countries, and the development and implementation of the newest hardware and software tools for the development of patent documentation;
• Building the information base on international collaboration in the area of industrial property as a foundation for the consultation center to be created for the benefit of the states party to the Organization;
• Administration of regional programs of on-the-job training and apprenticeship for the staff of national patent offices;
• Development, of programs of collaboration with other international organizations in the area of industrial property protection;
• Development of proposals, organization of consultations, and the exchange of information in order to coordinate the activity of, and render assistance to national patent offices of the Organization member states in their participation in international agreements and organizations with the aim of developing common positions on specific issues and rendering assistance to finding solutions to these in the course of applying specific measures;
• Assistance to interested national patent offices in planning and performing the actions that fall within the Organization's area of responsibility;
• Generalized assessment, according to the accepted procedure, of the fulfillment of their international obligations under EAPC by national patent offices;
• Preparation of comprehensive statistical reports on all national patent offices;
• Speedy performance of external relations services in response to requests from specific national patent offices.

In summarizing the results of EAPO activity in developing international collaboration, one needs to take into account the fact that the years 1996 - 2000 were transitive years in the formation of the organization, when it was still searching for its place in the already established world wide system of cooperation in the area of industrial property protection.

At the same time we must note several unquestionable achievement of the last period:

• First, the time was right for the appearance for this regional, international, inter-governmental authority in the field of industrial property protection, which served as a reliable base for the formation and development of national patent systems of states party to the Organization;
• Second, the Eurasian Patent Organization, created in accordance to the Eurasian Patent Convention, with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) acting as its depository, is gradually, step by step, moving towards a very specific place in the world-wide system of intellectual property protection. Presently over forty-five countries use its services. A strong upward trend exists in the submission of Eurasian applications: 118 in 1996, 457 in 1997, 1085 in 1998, and 1117 in 1999;
• Third, the Eurasian Patent Office is not only developing itself on the base of the latest achievements in world level theory and practice, but starting in 1999 is actively rendering assistance to national patent offices of the states party to the Eurasian Patent Convention thanks to a strong positive trend in the formation of financial and organizational basis for collaboration within the framework of the Organization.

And, finally, a small yet significant outcome of the elapsed period was the website developed be the EAPO experts, which has become accepted as the Organization's business card for the purpose of unhindered contact with the world community and as a "desk book" of a sort for patent attorneys and for anyone else in need of information on the Eurasian Patent Organization.