On the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day the Chairman of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine (hereinafter - SIPS) – Mukola Paladiy has delivered a speech, in which he described the high potential of Ukrainian inventors, which is confirmed by inventive activity statistics in Ukraine and the worldwide recognition of Ukrainian inventors. In support of his words the Chairman noted that the European Patent Organization reckons Ukraine among the countries with high intellectual potential and an effective state system of intellectual property protection, since the organization has officially invited Ukraine to become a member of the European Patent Convention.

According to Mr. Paladiy, at present the state system of intellectual property protection in Ukraine is generally consistent with international norms and standards. However, the SIPS is constantly working at improvement of the legislation. Currently a working group of the most experienced Ukrainian professionals in the field of intellectual property aims by the end of 2012 to improve Book IV "Intellectual Property Rights" of the Civil Code of Ukraine and to create 3-4 major laws (instead of currently in force), one - on copyright, another one - on patents, and one or two laws that will regulate common issues. The relevant by-law acts and regulations are planned to be amended either. According to the Chairman of the SIPS, the Parliament of Ukraine will be able to adopt these amendments as early as in 2013.

Mr. Palladium also reported on the preparation of the International Forum on Intellectual Property, which in 2013 in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization will be organized for the first time in Ukraine. A wide range of specialists in intellectual and industrial property as well as copyright will visit this global forum.

At the end of his speech Mukola Paladiy said that this year in Geneva Ukraine plans to officially announce its desire to acquire the status of International Searching Authority.

Trade mark applications and registrations from the Latvian PTO have now been added to the TMview search tool, which provides free access to data on almost 7 million trademarks.

There are now 19 offices contributing trademark data to TMview. Besides Latvia, TMview provides access to trademarks held by OHIM, WIPO, as well as the UK, Danish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Benelux, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Lithuania, Czech, Slovenian and Estonian PTOs. The goal is to eventually cover all EU member states.

TMview went live on 13 April 2010 and welcomed more than 650,000 users from 178 different countries. A new version of TMview has recently been launched to simplify the search through the database.

On April 12, 2012 in Chisinau, Moldova, there was signed the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the Eurasian Patent Organization on the legal protection of inventions in the Republic of Moldova after the denunciation of the Eurasian Patent Convention.

The reason of signing this Agreement lies in the denunciation of the Eurasian Patent Convention by the Republic of Moldova which shall take effect on April 26, 2012, as well as the absence of the provisions in the Convention regulating the rights of applicants and owners of Eurasian patents after its denunciation by a Contracting State.

Thus, in order to comply with the rights and lawful interests of applicants and owners of Eurasian patents the Agreement provides for the recognition in the Republic of Moldova the effect of Eurasian patents granted prior to denunciation of the Convention by the Republic of Moldova, until they expire or until other legal facts cease their validity. The Republic of Moldova also recognizes Eurasian patents granted after the effective date of denunciation on the Eurasian applications having a filing date before April 26, 2012, until the patent expires or until other legal facts cease its validity.

It is also possible to convert Eurasian applications filed before April 26, 2012 into national applications of the Republic of Moldova at the request of the applicant, which is submitted prior to the expiration of six months from the date the applicant receives the decision of the Eurasian Patent Office to refuse to grant a Eurasian patent or the date the applicant receives the Notification on refusal of objection to the above decision, provided that the fee for preparing and transferring to the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova a certified copy of the Eurasian application is paid.

In order to simplify fee payment procedure for the owners of Eurasian patents, the Agreement stipulates that all fees for the maintenance of Eurasian patents in force for the Republic of Moldova are payable to the Eurasian Patent Office.

It is also provided that there is a centralized system for implementation of all legal actions in respect of Eurasian applications and Eurasian patents recognized by the Republic of Moldova within the framework of the Eurasian Patent Office, including registration of transfer of the right to a Eurasian patent, consideration of the requests about refusal of a Eurasian patent or restriction thereof, restoration of rights with respect to a Eurasian patent, administrative revocation of a Eurasian patent, making corrections and changes to a Eurasian patent. Fees for implementation of legal acts, as well as payments for services rendered by the Eurasian Patent Office shall be paid to the Office.

The Agreement establishes the possibility to resolve disputes relating to validity of a Eurasian patent or the infringement of a Eurasian patent in the Republic of Moldova in courts or other competent authorities of the Republic of Moldova.

The Agreement also establishes the right of the applicants and patent holders from the Republic of Moldova, which before the effective date of denunciation of the Convention by the Republic of Moldova had been carrying out prosecution of their Eurasian applications and Eurasian patents individually or through representatives, non-Eurasian patent attorneys, to continue prosecuting these Eurasian applications and Eurasian patents without appointment of a Eurasian patent attorney. In addition, citizens of the Republic of Moldova, registered in the Eurasian Patent Office as a Eurasian patent attorneys prior to the effective date of denunciation of the Convention by the Republic of Moldova, which prosecute Eurasian applications filed before the effective date of said denunciation, and Eurasian patents indicating the Republic of Moldova issued before the above date, are entitled to continue their work on these cases until they are completed.

The Agreement shall be valid until the expiration of validity of the last Eurasian patent in force in respect of the Republic of Moldova.

As of March 14, 2012 the State Agency on Intellectual Property of Moldova allows open access to the electronic database "State Register of Holders of Control Marks" to assist applicants, owners, patent agents and other parties of interest in searching information on control mark holders.

The database is available at: http://www.db.agepi.md/registru_marcaj.aspx.

The database is an advanced search tool adapted to new technologies, which provides information about the registration of owners and serial numbers of control marks and the number of control marks issued from January 1, 2012. Users can search for a control mark using an alphanumeric code consisting of two letters and seven digits. The following series of control marks have been established: DA – for compact discs (CD, DVD) and AA – for audiocassettes (MC).

The control marks are uniform labels in the shape of a three-dimensional image on a self-adhesive and a self-destructing basis containing an alphanumeric code with a special level of protection on the outside.

According to Moldova’s legislation on copyright and related rights all copies of works or phonograms, which are produced, distributed and/or broadcasted in the territory of Moldova are to be marked with control marks, except for those used by individuals exclusively for personal purposes. A person who uses and distributes copies of works or phonograms, violating copyrights and neighboring rights or the law ¹ 1459/2002 on the distribution of copies of works or phonograms, may suffer a penalty in accordance with the civil, administrative and criminal laws.

The Eurasian Patent Office announces the open access on the EAPO web site to the following information:

- the information about oppositions filed with the EAPO against granting the Eurasian patents in accordance with the administrative procedure of patent cancellation and to information on their acceptance for consideration;
- the information about the results of examination of said oppositions;
- the texts of decisions of the EAPO on the results of examination of oppositions.

The information on the results of examination of oppositions (in respect of decisions of the Eurasian Office that may no longer be appealed), and the texts of the final decisions will be published on the EAPO web site.

The above information and the texts of decisions will be published in respect of oppositions received by the Eurasian Office and accepted for consideration starting from 2011.

The law amending the Civil Code’s Part 4 entered into force in Turkmenistan on January 19, 2012.

The previous variant of Part 4 was the basic legislative act on copyright and related rights in Turkmenistan along with other separate legal acts regulating the matters related to trademarks, patents and industrial designs.

The amended version of Part 4 titled as “Legislation on Intellectual Property” regulates legislative aspects of the entire IP area, including copyright and related rights (neighboring rights), industrial designs, semiconductor topographies, selection achievements, trademarks and commercial names.

The changes specifically affected IP licensing and assignment agreements. The new Code stipulates that a natural or legal person having an exclusive right to the result of intellectual activities or to means of individualization, may use this result or this means at his discretion in any manner not violating the law.

It is also stipulated that a licensing agreement should include the subject of the agreement and the procedure of using the results of intellectual activity or means of individualization.

In cases envisaged by the legislation of Turkmenistan, a court, at the request of an interested party, may make a decision on granting a person the right to use the results of intellectual activities, the exclusive right of which belongs to another person (compulsory licensing).

In light of the amendments of Part 4 of the Civil Code, the Turkmenistan parliament has passed a separate copyright and related rights law, which took effect on January 20, 2012. The Law regulates the relations arising in connection with creation and use of works of science, literature and art, phonograms, performances, broadcasts, broadcasting organizations and cablecasting. It is expected that the new Law will be an effective means of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of authors and creators of objects of related rights.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan has been instructed to harmonize regulatory acts of the government and other state authorities with the new version of Part 4 of the Civil Code by March 1, 2012.

Republican State Enterprise "National Institute of Intellectual Property" of the Committee on Intellectual Property Rights of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides services in the field of industrial property protection and is financed by its own income.

Based on the order of the Chairman of the Committee on Intellectual Property Rights of the Republic of Kazakhstan of December 27, 2011 ¹ 90-n.k. there has been adopted the changes in the size of available benefits (without making changes to the approved and agreed rates), as follows:

1) for legal entities - the payment of 50% of the fee (service);

2) for individuals - the payment of 30% of the fee (service).

The order came into force after its official publication that took place on January 24, 2012.

Trademarks from the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania have now been added to the to the TMview search tool, providing free access to trademark applications and registrations from a number of leading trademark offices.

The latest expansion of TMview brings the total number of offices contributing data to 17. Besides, Lithuania now there are Bulgaria, Benelux, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, France, the UK, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Sweden, WIPO and OHIM. With the addition of Lithuanian trademarks, Tmview now provides access to more than 6,6 trademarks in total.

Since 2012 Eurasian Patent Office publishes amended patent documents according to the WIPO recommended standard ST.50. From now on any elimination of a substantial mistake in a patent document will be accompanied by the republication thereof. Amendment of front pages of an application or a patent will result in republication of correspondent front pages, while amendment of the description of applications or patents will be followed by the republication of both front pages and the descriptions themselves.

Bibliographical data produced on the front page of amended documents should be up to date. The information concerning amendments is placed on the front page under codes INID 15 and 48. Amended documents should be recorded onto CD-ROM together with the full description of inventions to Eurasian applications and patents.

According to Order No. 304* the amount of the guarantee sum which shall be provided by the rightsholder in the frame of the proceedings as to the recordal of the IP object in the custom register was decreased from 5000 Euro to 1000 Euro. As providing of the guarantee sum is the obligatory condition for the recordal such decreasing made the procedure of the protection of IP rights more affordable for the rightholders.

(* - Order No. 304 of April 12, 2011 “On the amendments to conditions of provision of deposit or equivalent assurance of reimbursement of costs associated with the actions of the Customs Authorities of Ukraine aimed to promote protection of Intellectual Property rights”)

On December 21, 2011 the Republic of Tajikistan deposited its instrument of accession to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs.

The Geneva Act will take effect in Tajikistan on March 21, 2012.

The accession to this Agreement provides the owner of an industrial design with the possibility to have his design protected in several countries by simply filing one application with the International Bureau of WIPO, in one language, with one set of fees in one currency (Swiss Francs). An international registration produces the same effects in each of the designated countries, as if the design had been registered directly with each national office, unless protection is refused by the national office of that country.

The Hague System simplifies the management of an industrial design registration, since it is possible to record subsequent changes or to renew the registration through a single procedural step with the International Bureau of WIPO.

According to WIPO’s PCT Newsletter, No. 01/2012, on October 26, 2011 the Republic of Moldova deposited a notification of denunciation of the Eurasian Patent Convention, which will take effect on April 26, 2012.

This denunciation will not affect granted Eurasian patents or PCT applications filed before April 26, 2012 containing the designation of the Republic of Moldova for a Eurasian patent; these patents and applications will continue to have full effect. However, as a result of the denunciation, any international application filed on or after April 26, 2012 will contain the designation of the Republic of Moldova only for a national patent, and will not include the designation of that State for a Eurasian patent.

Furthermore, as from April 26, 2012 the Eurasian Patent Office will no longer be a competent receiving Office for international applications filed by nationals and residents of the Republic of Moldova. The remaining competent receiving Offices will be the State Agency on Intellectual Property (Republic of Moldova) or the International Bureau of WIPO, at the choice of the applicant.

Azerbaijan has formed a special group on creation of electronic system for registration of intellectual property rights. The work will be implemented at the expense of 4.2 million USD (3.2 million EUR) grant provided by the Korean government for 2-year project realization.

On October 11, 2011 the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan signed a grant agreement with the Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry on automation of intellectual property rights registration. The agreement is aimed at securing the effictive system of IP rights management, establishing a digital library and information system, training specialists and providing the stable intellectual rights registration system in Azerbaijan.

WTO ministers adopted Russia's WTO terms of entry at the Eighth Ministerial Conference in Geneva. Provided Russia ratifies the required documents by June 15, 2012 and completes certain other formalities, it will finally become a fully fledged member of the WTO. A significant amount of issues that earlier prevented Russia from entry constitutes intellectual property (IP) aspects.

One of the areas that require improvement is protection of IP in courts. At the moment, courts of law have several divisions comprised of judges who specialize in certain categories of disputes, like companies, taxes, contracts and so on, not having relevant specialisation in treating IP matters.

On November, 23 2011 there was adopted in the third reading the Law "On amending certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in connection with the creation of the Court for Intellectual Property Disputes. The Law introduces amendments to several regulations: the Law "On Status of Judges", the Arbitrazh Procedure Code and part 4 of the Civil Code. The Law provides for the creation of a specialized Court for intellectual property disputes in Russia.

Under the new law drafted by the Supreme Commercial Court, the patent court should be established no later than February 1, 2013.

The Court will consider disputes relating to the protection of intellectual property rights as a court of first instance and cassation instance. Cases of this category will be considered by the Court regardless of whether the parties are organizations, individual entrepreneurs or citizens. The question still remains as to whether the judges will be suitably qualified and whether their number (30) will be enough to address IP issues for the whole of Russia. Furthermore, it is not clear why disputes concerning copyright and neighboring rights as well as protection of IP rights were left outside the competence of a specialized court in the first instance.

The Law of the Republic of Belarus of December 30, 2011 "On Amendments and Additions to the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus" came into force on January 1, 2012. In accordance with the Law there are new provisions of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus, including those relating to patent fees.

In particular, paragraph 5 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus is supplemented with the norm, according to which in cases when a patent fee has been paid in excess of the established amount or when a legally significant action with regard to industrial property object, for which a fee was paid, was not performed, at the request of the payer, the funds received in payment of the fee or overpaid fee amount are either refunded or credited against other fees.

The new Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus eliminated provisions for payment of patent fees for claiming a convention priority when applying for patents for inventions, utility models, industrial designs.

The Annex 23 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus is set out in new edition in paragraphs that concern applications for a patent for a utility model, maintenance of a patent on plant variety, extension of term for filing response to Examiner’s request.