Participants’ Feedback on the Conference The XV International Scientific and Practical Conference “Actual Problems of Intellectual Property”, which recently took place in Svaliava, left a very positive impression on the participants form different countries. The event was organised by the State Department of Intellectual Property (SDIP) jointly with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).
 Michal Svantner, Director of the Division of Cooperation with Certain Countries in Europe and Asia, WIPO, in his presentation underlined, in particular, the urgency and importance of the XV International Scientific and Practical Conference “Actual Problems of Intellectual Property” for implementing the state policy of Ukraine’s Integration in Europe, improving the domestic legislative norms in the intellectual property sphere and the Conference’s practical value for IP protection. Mr Svantner stressed that “as for bilateral cooperation between WIPO and the Government of Ukraine, the State Department of Intellectual Property has established excellent relationship”.
“I am delighted to acknowledge that SDIP’s management and specialists take active part in at times heated WIPO debates concerning development and improvement of the international norms of intellectual property rights protection. They have gained a high reputation on the international level thanks to their aspiration to stand up for Ukraine’s position in the world, and we would like to see other countries of this regions take part in WIPO discussions on intellectual property matters with the same determination, activity and perseverance,” underlined Michal Svantner. Among the latest WIPO and SDIP’s joint achievements, Michal Svantner noted the WIPO Academy international Summer School on Intellectual Property held in Odessa in summer 2009. Considering the high organisational level and participants’ positive feedback, a decision was made to organise the Summer School in Ukraine yearly. This decision has a great international significance and demonstrates SDIP’s excellent level of performance and its active participation in WIPO strategic activities.
Michal Svantner expressed his admiration of the marvellous atmosphere of the Transcarpathian region which hosted the XV International Scientific and Practical Conference “Actual Problems of Intellectual Property”: “We are inspired by the historical tradition, multinational human resources of this region endowed with an extraordinary intellectual power; this very geographic region of Ukraine houses creative specialists of different nations – Ukrainians, Romanians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks and others – this united headway made in mutual respect and cooperation for the sake of development of their country, their region, advance of science and inventive activity, is a peculiar model of Europe on the whole”.
Other participants – intellectual property specialists from various countries – shared their impressions from the Conference. Oleksiy Bichurin, Head, Centre of Collective Management of Proprietary Rights, National Intellectual Property Centre, Minsk, the Republic of Belarus:
- The impressions from the Conference are very positive. We could hear a lot of new and useful information and reflect on work-related matters.
The initiative from SDIP’s part deserves every support. This is a wonderful forum enabling us to discuss similar problems of our states and see what measures are taken, what steps are made, what direction should be chosen to jointly resolve these problems, in particular concerning audiovisual works covered by a separate seminar.
I express my gratitude to the Ukrainian side for its commitment, the properly chosen topic of the seminar organised during the Conference, the rich programme, the interesting presenters, but most of all – for the timeliness of the issues discussed. As a matter of fact, the problems are on the international agenda and their discussion on the regional level is particularly useful for determining a common standpoint to be presented on the WIPO forum.
Since we work for common tasks and goal, I hope that our broad cooperation continues.
Madi Sadanov, Director of the branch of the Republic State Enterprise “National Institute of Intellectual Property”, Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan:
- The world community’s interest for the intellectual property protection issues has been growing from year to year. Development of the international cooperation in this area is a priority activity for our office. Today the Republic of Kazakhstan is part of more than 20 international and bilateral agreements in the sphere of intellectual property and has plans to further consolidate the cooperation with other countries. We have very tight connections with Ukraine in the intellectual property field. I’d like to point out the high professional level of the Patent Office of Ukraine. During the Conference dedicated to the actual problems of intellectual property, its participants jointly formulated new tasks, which, hopefully, will become an incentive to further strengthen the cooperation between our countries. Andriy Trynkolenko, Head, Legal Support Service, National Institute of Intellectual Property, Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan: - Thank you for the organisation of the event and the wonderful choice of the venue. I would also like to note that a significant amount of important and necessary information was added to our professional equipment.
I cleared out a number of matters regarding examination of applications for pharmaceutical inventions necessary for my further work. After returning to Kazakhstan we will bring in a proposal for amendments to the legislation concerning revocation of letters of consent. In April we are holding an inventor contest. Naturally, we would be delighted to welcome the managements of SDIP and Ukrainian Industrial Property Institute to this event. We hope to organise the reception of intellectual property specialists from Ukraine on the same high level.
Tetiana Raylian, Examiner, International Trademark Division, State Agency on Intellectual Property, Chişinău, Moldova: - I learned a lot of new things, in particular about the practice of examination of trademark applications in Ukraine. I enjoyed most of the presentations, particularly the one about parasite marketing. For me, the Conference is an opportunity to network and exchange experience. For instance, we discussed some topics of mutual interest with my colleagues from Kazakhstan. I find visiting this event most useful for my professional development and think that everything was organised on the highest possible level. The State Enterprise “Ukrainian Industrial Property Institute”, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Lev Glukhivskiy, First Deputy Director: - Plenary meetings of the XV International Scientific and Practical Conference and its workshops were held on a high level with the use of modern information technologies. I chaired two workshops – “Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement by Administrative and Judicial Procedure” and “Legal Protection of Inventions”. The work was very intensive and constructive. All the presentations planned within the workshops were successfully held and aroused participants’ keen interest. The presenters had to answer quite a few questions. I suppose the Conference was of great use for the examiners of our Institute who presented their own achievements on a high professional level and adopted the experience of specialists from other patent offices. As for foreign participants, the delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan was quite representative. The specialists of their patent office took part in all the workshops and presented thorough reports.
Nataliya Petrova, Head, Division of Examination of Applications for Inventions, Utility Models and Integrated Circuit Topographies:
- The level of this Conference can be considered the highest among those held lately – by the organisation and technical base, by the list of participants, by the variety of topics covered, by the number of workshops. The workshops dealt with such interesting topics that I personally wanted to take part in several of them simultaneously. As for the workshop dedicated to the examination of inventions, I must admit that this time our Institute was represented by a great number of young examiners. The subjects of the presentations concerned almost all fields of industry where applications for titles of protection are filed – organic chemistry and pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, mechanics, construction etc. The reports dealt with the most relevant matters of the examination process, which stimulated the participants’ interest. The high professional level of the presentations was noteworthy. The lecturers disclosed various aspects of the examination process, supported them by specific examples, making it clear what mistakes should be avoided, why particular decisions should be made by the examiner etc. All the nuances of the process were illustrated in a way enabling to grant a “strong” title of protection to applicants.
I’d like to mention the interesting report of the representative of the Patent Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan. I also felt very pleased when Altynay Batyrbeckova, Head of the Service for Inventions, Utility Models and Selective Achievements of the Patent Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approached me after one of the meetings and expressed her desire to undergo a training course in our Institute.
Vasyl Bannikov, Head, Division of Examination of Applications for Trademarks and Service Marks and Industrial Designs: - The general level of this Conference was very high. Constructive work was organised in the workshops, attended, besides our Institute’s specialists, by the representatives of the Republics of Moldova and Kazakhstan. Continuous exchange of information in the form of a dialogue made the work productive and efficient. The participants were satisfied with the workshop results and thanked for the opportunity to acquire new experience on the legal protection of designations. Within the framework of the XV International Scientific and Practical Conference “Actual Problems of Intellectual Property” an interregional seminar on protection of audiovisual works and performances took place. This event, chaired by Tamara Davidenko, Head of the SDIP’s Copyright and Related Rights Division, attracted special attention of the Conference participants.
- I am grateful to our partners from WIPO for the joint organisation of such an informative and lively event which gathered specialists from different countries dealing with protection of audiovisual works and performances. The participants of the interregional WIPO seminar, held this time within the framework of the Conference, considered a vast number of topical issues and noted that the event was a logical follow-up of the international seminar held in Kyiv in June 2009. If an event took place once – it is routine practice, if twice – it is a tradition, and if such seminars will be held in future this is going to become a system. So all the participants of this seminar resolved to develop a system of such events and received WIPO support. On the first seminar close attention was paid to the matters of legislation - both international and national. This seminar enabled us to deal with quite a lot of practical matters of protection of audiovisual works and performances. I am very thankful to the representatives of the European Union, WIPO, Switzerland, Spain, Great Britain, Russia, Armenia, Belarus and other participants for their active collaboration and constructive work. Our seminar was held on a high level and has a significant potential, which was proved by the wide circle of issues discussed behind the scenes. I would like to point out that the collaboration of the representatives of different countries brings tangible positive results - it is foreseen that a Draft International Agreement on Protection of Audiovisual Works and Performances will be submitted for consideration of the Diplomatic Conference. This matter is now under the auspices of WIPO. I am very pleased to think that all the experience obtained by the seminar participants will necessarily be used for the sake of development of creative activities in every country. Sergiy Semenov, Regional Representative, International Federation of Film Producers Associations, FIAPF, Moscow, Russian Federation.
- The situation around audiovisual works, remuneration and copyright in Ukraine differs from the one in our country. Performers have the right to receive remuneration for every case the work has been used, which gives us reason to claim that the Ukrainian legislation provides certain preconditions for fair remuneration, which was discussed during the seminar. As far as I understood from the seminar, collective management organisations have been created in Ukraine to ensure collection of remuneration. Let us see how promising, feasible and profitable it will be for authors and film industry on the whole. Great thanks to our colleagues for sharing their experience with us. Ukraine is an independent state and acts to maintain general interests if there is social consensus in this matter. If Ukraine implements fair remuneration scheme for audiovisual works, we will follow the successes of these innovations with interest.
Susanna Narsisian, Adviser, Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan – It is my second time in Ukraine on a similar seminar – last year I attended the one held in Kyiv. I would like to underscore the excellent organisation of the events. The seminars are very intensive and packed with valuable information. It is a great opportunity for us to learn, because there are still few specialists in the field of protection of audiovisual works and performances. The experience we have received will definitely be used in practice to achieve better results in this area. Every country has a positive experience worth sharing. Creative activity is a country’s wealth, and we have to spare no effort to make creators feel comfortable and safe in their own country having their work decently protected.
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