The State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), in partnership with the experts of the EU Project “Support to Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” in the Republic of Moldova, organized from 2 to 5 October a series of training seminars on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) for specialists of the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance (ACPMS).

In the opening of the event, the ACPMS Director Iurie Eremia mentioned that the training of agency specialists in the field of IPR is important as it will improve their competences to investigate infringements of trademarks and geographical indications.

According to the agenda, during the seminars were addressed issues related to the basic principles of intellectual property and national and international regulations in the field. The e-IPR system and other support tools were also presented. The participants in the event also discussed on the margins of the Guide on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), presented by the EU Technical Assistance Project experts as well as about the role of right holders in the enforcement of IPR.

The EU Project experts Gavin Terry and Alan Cronin talked about intellectual property crimes and the risks associated with the use of counterfeit products. Apart from the economic damage caused to companies, such as unfair competition with entrepreneurs involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of original goods, non-payment of taxes to the budget, the experts have highlighted the effects on the safety and health of consumers.

Olesea Plotnic, EU Project expert, explained what are the unfair and abusive trade practices in relation to IPR, what sanctions risk entrepreneurs and how consumers can protect themselves from such abuses. According to the expert, a vendor of counterfeit or pirated goods can hide or misrepresent important information about the product, can apply manipulative promotion or hidden advertising techniques, special offers or pyramid sales schemes - these are all ways to deceive consumers and are legally sanctioned.

Rodica Popescu presented the tools provided by AGEPI to IPR enforcement institutions, highlighting the usefulness of the Observatory on Enforcement of IPR within the Agency. Thus, the purpose of this platform is to support the exchange of data between the authorities responsible for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, as well as the generation of reports, analytical and statistical studies in the field, which would allow effective monitoring of the system of enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Republic of Moldova.

Two days were devoted to practical exercises. Specialists went to markets and shops to analyze sales of goods suspected of being counterfeit and assessing the level of IPR infringements.

The purpose of the seminars was to increase the capacity of the Consumer Protection Agency to apply intellectual property rights. The seminars were attended by 50 specialists from ACPMS, AGEPI and higher education institutions of the country. In the end, all the specialists received diplomas for participation.

We should mention that the Technical Assistance Project “Support to Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” in the Republic of Moldova is funded by the European Union, being implemented by a Consortium formed of the companies Archidata Srl (Italy), European Profiles S.A. (Greece) and Business and Strategies in Europe S.A. (Belgium). The project has a two-year period and ends in November 2018.