PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD
Dear colleagues, dear friends!
The year 2021 can rightfully be considered a historic one for the Eurasian patent system. Thanks to the efforts of the Eurasian Patent Office and the Member States of the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the year has been rich in important events that have laid a solid foundation for our organization’s new areas of activity.
On June 1, 2021, a new stage in the history of the EAPO began — the receipt of Eurasian industrial design applications opened.
This was preceded by hard work on the ratification of the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs, which entered into force on March 17, 2021, and by the preparation of the main regulatory legal acts, adopted by the Eurasian Patent Organization’s Administrative Council on April 12, 2021, which allow for the receipt and examination of Eurasian industrial design applications.
It is impossible to ignore the painstaking work of all of the Office’s units, where, day by day, in order to support work with Eurasian industrial design applications, information systems were finalized, regulatory legal acts were developed, and the certification of Eurasian patent attorneys and other necessary preparatory activities were carried out.
Another landmark event took place in the reporting year: on October 7, 2021, at the fifty-third (twenty-third ordinary) session of the Assembly of the Patent Cooperation Treaty Union, the Office was appointed as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority. Finally, twenty-seven years after the signing of the Eurasian Patent Convention, the EAPO has reached a fundamentally new qualitative level in the arena of international intellectual property. This is an achievement of all employees of the Office and, above all, those who are directly involved in the examination of Eurasian applications for inventions.
The opening of EAPO Pharmaceutical Register on March 1, 2021 marks the beginning of a new and very important area of activity for the Office. The register is a resource containing information on Eurasian patents for inventions related to active pharmaceutical ingredients that have been assigned international nonproprietary names. The goal set by the Office in developing the Pharmaceutical Register is simple: to provide all interested parties with the opportunity to make decisions on the production, registration and sale of medicines based on reliable information about the presence or absence of protection by Eurasian patents.
It should be noted that the activity of applicants in the Eurasian patent system increased during the reporting period. The number of Eurasian patent applications in 2021 grew by 8 per cent compared to 2020. And this is despite the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
As in previous years, the largest number of Eurasian patent applications in the reporting period was filed by applicants from the United States of America. In the Eurasian region, applicants from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan were leaders in the number of Eurasian patent applications.
In 2021, the trend of strengthening the Office’s electronic interaction with applicants and patent holders, characteristic of recent years, has been maintained. The number of Eurasian applications filed with the Office in electronic form increased in 2021 — their share reached 92 per cent of the total number of applications filed. And the share of Eurasian applications for which workflow at the examination stage was conducted by applicants with the Office exclusively in electronic form reached 85 per cent.
A certain role in maintaining this trend was played by the conclusion in the reporting year of agreements on the electronic exchange of documents on Eurasian applications and patents with the patent offices of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.
In addition, communication between the Office and users filing Eurasian industrial design applications was initially focused on paperless technologies.
In recent years, the EAPO has significantly strengthened its position as a reliable partner in international cooperation.
The year 2021 was no exception. We have expanded communication with the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Eurasian Economic Commission, continued active cooperation with the European Patent Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, and the national patent offices of a number of states.
During the reporting period, Eurasian Patent Office representatives took part in 103 international events.
In conclusion, I would like to wish all our partners success in moving towards their goals, rising to new heights, and meeting all challenges! The past year proves that it is all possible!
Saule Tlevlessova
President of the Eurasian Patent Office