Bilateral Cooperation

During 2008 RosPatent in the framework of the Russian-Chinese Working Group on Cooperation in Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement (hereinafter referred to as "the Working Group") continued its collaboration with the Chinese party according to coordinated directions of cooperation.
RosPatent as the head office from the Russian side carried out coordination of activities of the Russian Ministries and Offices on agreement of proposals aimed at both development of the Russian-Chinese cooperation and establishment of direct contacts between the law enforcement and customs Authorities of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the basis of interoffice agreements.
As previously agreed RosPatent sent twice to the Chinese party (in April and December) the materials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation on the results of operational and service activity as well as positive experience on revelation and combating intellectual property infringements.
In November 2008 RosPatent prepared and forwarded proposals to the State Office for Intellectual Property of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) with the purpose of continuation of discussion of the Chinese party initiatives concerning probations of the Chinese specialists in RosPatent and in RGIIS. At the same time the Chinese party was offered to discuss the possibility to conclude the relevant agreement within the framework of Chinese-Russian Sub-Committee on Cooperation in the Educational Field.
On July 17-18, 2008 in Beijing (the People’s Republic of China) the Russian delegation, headed by RosPatent, took part in the second meeting of the Working Group. From the Russian side on the delegation there were representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. From the Chinese side there were representatives of the Ministry of Commerce of China, the Main Customs Authority of China, the State Committee on Intellectual Property of China, the Ministry of Public Security of China. In the course of the meeting the delegation of RosPatent informed of the latest changes in the intellectual property legislation of the Russian Federation, and, in particular, on provisions of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, took part in exchange of opinions on initiatives of the European Community, the USA and other developed countries on conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The delegation of RosPatent noted the increasing role of cooperation within the framework of the APEC Forum. The parties agreed to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the APEC Forum in the field of intellectual property including exchange of information. In the course of the meeting the initiatives on conclusion of interoffice agreements between the law enforcement and customs Authorities of both countries were being discussed. The achieved accords were reflected in the final document of the second meeting of the Working Group.
In August 2008 RosPatent prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation the proposals on inclusion of issues, considered within the framework of the Working Group, in the Plan of Actions on implementation of provisions of the Russian-Chinese Treaty of Neighborhood, Friendship and Cooperation for 2009–2012.
In August–September 2008 in the course of preparation to the 13th regular session of the Heads of Government of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China RosPatent submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation with reference materials on issues of the Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of intellectual property to form position of the Russian party. The Director General of RosPatent, Dr. Boris Simonov, took part in the third Russian-Chinese Economic Forum that took place on October 28, 2008 within the framework of the regular session of the Heads of Government of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China and that was one of the first key activities of economic character of the past year in bilateral cooperation.
In pursuance of decisions of the IX session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Swiss Confederation in 2008 two rounds (in Russia and Switzerland) of expert consultations on the draft of bilateral Russian-Swiss Intergovernmental Agreement on Protection of Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin took place.
Representatives of the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property of Switzerland, the Swiss Embassy in Russia, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (RosPatent), FGU FIPS and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation took part in the consultations.
In the framework of two rounds of expert consultations on the Draft Agreement the parties achieved essential progress in search of mutual understanding on format, structure, scope, purposes and the main contents of the document. The clause-by-clause discussion of the Draft was carried out in the course of which most part of disagreements was released.
Work of experts was mentioned as positive in the course of the X session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Swiss Confederation on the results of which RosPatent and the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property of Switzerland were instructed to carry out two rounds of negotiations in 2009 on the basis of the work that had been already done to complete not later than by the end of 2009 work on preparation of the Draft and the report in the framework of the XI session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation.
In the field of Russian-Vietnamese cooperation the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (RosPatent) carried out work on preparation and coordination of the Draft Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Cooperation in the Sphere of Intellectual Property Protection in 2007–2008.
The signing of the agreement took place on October 27, 2008 in the framework of the official visit to the Russian Federation of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet.
On behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation the Agreement was signed by the Director General of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (RosPatent), Dr. Boris Simonov.
For the purpose of coordination of cooperation in the framework of the Agreement the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks and the National Office on Intellectual Property of Vietnam were appointed as authorized bodies.
In 2008 RosPatent continued its work within the framework of the Russian-French Working Group on Intellectual Property Enforcement and Counterfeit Combating, established within the framework of the Russian-¬French Council on Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Issues (SEFIK). In June the Third session of the Working Group took place where the French party were represented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security and Liberty Protection, the National Institute of Appellations of Origin, the French Embassy in Russia, the branch offices of the European Commission in Russia and also a range of French companies. From the Russian part there were representatives of 10 federal authorities, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, the Arbitration Court of Moscow, business communities.
In the course of the plenary session the parties exchanged the information on the experience in fight against counterfeiting, its legislative and law-enforcement aspects. The French party was informed in detail of the changes that took place in the system of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the sphere of intellectual property since the last session of the Working Group and also of the statistical information of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation on the activity of offices aimed at combating illegal trafficking and crossing the boarder of counterfeit and pirate products.
As the most urgent and vital issues were defined: combating infringement of intellectual property rights in the Internet, operative exchange of information, cooperation in training, organization of joint seminars and workshops, exchange of experience on-site, etc.
Furthermore, some work in parallel sections was carried out that was dedicated to:
1. law enforcement and operational aspects of combating counterfeiting;
2. cooperation in the field of geographical indications and appellations of origin;
3. combating counterfeit of pharmaceuticals.
On request of the French side there was organized a study visit to the Russian Customs Point.
On the results of the meeting the parties defined the further scope and directions of cooperation and also particular activities concerning fulfillment of the entered engagements achieved in the course of discussion.
According to the decisions of the XV meeting of the Russian¬-French Council on Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Issues (SEFIK) (St. Petersburg, July 23–25, 2008) and the XIII session of the Russian-¬French Commission for Issues of Bilateral Cooperation on the Level of the Heads of the Governments (Sochi, September 20, 2008) in the reporting year the work on preparation of bilateral Intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation in the Area of Legal Protection of Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin was initiated.
To comply with the interests of the Russian Federation in relation to the use of prior and newly created intellectual property considering the contribution of Russia in 2008 the specialists of RosPatent carried out the work on analyzing and submitting conclusions on drafts of Intergovernmental Agreements on Science and Technology Cooperation with the Republic of Austria, the Swiss Confederation, the Federal Republic of Germany. In October — November, 2008 the working visits of the delegations from the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Industrial Property Office (KIPO) to RosPatent took place.
The visits were aimed at the development of bilateral cooperation between the Offices on quite a number of directions, including automatization and optimization of procedures of patent examination procedure, cooperation in the field of patent documentation and databases use, computer-aided translation, cooperation within the framework of the initiative “Patent Prosecution Highway” (PPH).
The PPH is aimed at speeding up examination and allows the applicants to receive faster and with more efficiency the corresponding patents. The PPH gives the offices the opportunity to use the results of works already done by the other office that allows reducing the workload and improving the quality of patents.


Mr. Samir Rahman
On & in behalf of
Patent and Law firm ‘IPPro’