On Friday, October 2, 2026, the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and the Austrian Patent Office (APO) held an online technical meeting, aiming to initiate a dialogue between the two offices to identify and plan concrete cooperation activities to be implemented under the Memorandum of Understanding signed on September 9, 2026.

During the meeting, the parties discussed priority areas of interest for AGEPI and ways to use the Austrian Patent Office’s expertise and experience. The parties agreed to organize a series of thematic technical meetings in the near future focusing on these areas of interest, with an emphasis on exchanging experience and taking over by AGEPI of the Austrian Office’s best practices applied in the examination and administration of intellectual property rights.

Priority areas for AGEPI include the examination of patent applications in the field of biotechnology, including applications containing nucleotide sequences, and the examination of patent applications for computer-implemented inventions. The exchange of experience in these fields will cover examination procedures, the conduct of prior art searches, database usage, and approaches applied in the resolution of complex technical and legal issues.

In the field of trademarks and industrial designs, discussions will focus particularly on the Austrian Patent Office’s experience in transposing and applying at the national level the new European directives relevant to these fields, as well as on adapting examination procedures and practices to the requirements of the new European Union acquis.

Another area of ​​cooperation will be the digitalization and security of the information systems of the two offices. Furthermore, AGEPI has requested an exchange of experience regarding the Austrian Patent Office’s application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Regulation (EU) 2016/679, including in the context of providing and digitizing intellectual property services.

The parties also agreed to exchange best practices regarding cooperation between intellectual property offices and national partners, including institutions in the research and development sector, the business community, rightholder associations, and other categories of intellectual property system beneficiaries. The Austrian Patent Office’s experience in developing such partnerships will be leveraged to strengthen AGEPI’s communication and cooperation mechanisms with the innovation community and system users.

A distinct topic of discussion was the application of the provisions of Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, particularly in the context of the regulation of the activities of authorized attorneys. AGEPI sought Austrian expertise in this field, given the ongoing review of the national normative framework governing the activities of authorized attorneys and intellectual property evaluators, including from the perspective of aligning it with the provisions of Law No 282/2024 on the Freedom of Establishment of Service Providers and the Freedomt to Provide Services.

During the meeting, the two offices emphasized the need for flexible, results-oriented cooperation, agreeing that the list of bilateral activities and commitments could be adjusted and updated based on institutional needs and emerging priorities. This approach will allow cooperation to focus on areas where the exchange of experience and technical expertise can generate the greatest added value for the development of AGEPI’s capacities.

The technical meeting thus marks the first step in operationalizing the Memorandum of Understanding signed on September 9, 2026, and establishes the framework for launching concrete cooperation activities between AGEPI and the Austrian Patent Office, grounded in knowledge transfer, the exchange of experience, and European best practices.