On 19 December 2014, in the premises of AGEPI, was held the quarterly meeting of attorneys in intellectual property, in which were discussed several topics of common interest on the activity in the field of protection of intellectual property.
The meeting was moderated by Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu, Deputy Director General of AGEPI, who noted the important role that belong to attorneys in the national intellectual property system and the need for operative information thereof with new legislative provisions, with the latest trends in the field of IP, both nationally and internationally. Namely, it is also one of the goals of the traditional meetings of the AGEPI specialists with the patent attorneys.
According to the program of the meeting, attorneys were familiarized with the provisions of the Law no. 114 of 07.03.2014 on the State Agency on Intellectual Property, which came into force on September 26, 2014, in particular Articles governing the activity of patent attorneys, their rights and obligations (Speaker – Mrs. Diana Stici, Head of Legislation Division).
Mrs. Ala Gusan, Director of Inventions, Plant Varieties Department, informed patent attorneys about the legislative proposals on the implementation of the Agreement on Validation of European Patents in the Republic of Moldova in the Law no. 50-XVI on the Protection of Inventions.
Considering the fact that most requested IP objects are trademarks and in order to adjust the national practice to the international one, AGEPI specialists presented some useful information in this regard.
Thus, Mrs. Ludmila Cocieru, Head of International Trademarks Division, informed the audience about the need to draft a list of goods and services in the international applications in accordance with the WIPO tool “Manager of Goods and Services” and about ways of adjusting the goods/services as recommended by the International Bureau of WIPO.
In other connection, Mrs. Svetlana Sahan, Head of National Trademarks Division, reported on the fact that from January 1, 2015 comes into force the 2015 version of the 10th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks and provided details on the application of the new version.
To the EU practice on trademarks in black and white referred Simion Levitchi, Director of the Trademarks, Industrial Designs Department. Also, the participants in the event were informed about the activities on promoting the system of geographical indications in the Republic of Moldova, patent attorneys being urged to encourage their clients, potential applicants, to access this tool of promotion of goods with guaranteed quality and origin.
Mrs. Maria Rojnevschi, Director of Promotion and Publishing Department, informed the participants in the meeting about the contest "”Trademark of the Year-2014”, organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Moldova in cooperation with AGEPI, in the period November 2014 - January 2015. Patent attorneys were informed about the conditions of participation in the contest, nominations and awards of the contest, and the advantages offered by the organizers to contest participants and winners, especially SMEs. Considering that the aim of the contest is to promote both the corporate image of companies and the leading role in identifying products and services, in their differentiation from similar ones on the market, the attorneys have been requested to disseminate the information received among economic agents whose interests they represent, and to encourage them to actively participate in this prestigious contest, which is part of the national event “Made in Moldova”, which will take place at the IEC “Moldexpo” JSC, in the period 28 January – 1 February 2015.
Next, according to the meeting program, they discussed the use of the electronic system e-AGEPI. Mr. Vitalie Rusanovschi, Head of Document Electronic Management Division, said that the weight of applicants using this service is constantly increasing, electronic applications constituting already over 15% of the total number of applications submitted to AGEPI in the period 01.04.2014 - 12.18.2014. In turn, the most active users of the online submission system – patent attorneys Nicolae Glazunov and Olga Socolova, expressed their satisfaction to this modern service provided by AGEPI, citing its numerous advantages, including the possibility of online payment of fees, access of 24/24 hours, 7/7 days, the existence of the personal desktop, etc. Also, patent attorneys also appreciated very positively the free online access to IPO databases, provided by AGEPI, expressing, at the same time, some grievances directed toward efficient cooperation with the AGEPI.
At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Svetlana Munteanu, Deputy Director General of AGEPI, encouraged patent attorneys to be more active and present to AGEPI specialists the questions and topics they would like to discuss during 2015, both with respect to the regulatory legislative framework in the field and the procedures for requesting and obtaining the protection of intellectual property objects.
