14 | 09 | 2016

Study Visit of the Industrial Property Agency Delegation of the Republic of Kosovo

The delegation of the Industrial Property Agency of the Republic of Kosovo (API) paid a working visit to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) from 5 to 9 September 2016, within TAIEX – technical assistance programme of the European Commission.

The delegation of the Kosovo office was led by Mr. Xhafer Tahiri, Director General of the Industrial Property Agency.

The system of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Republic of Croatia was presented within the visit and experiences of the SIPO regarding accession process of the Republic of Croatia to the Stabilization and Association Agreement and regarding complete accession process to the European Union were conveyed, as well as experiences as to the membership of the Republic of Croatia related to the field of industrial property.

The ways and methods of operation by individual organizational units of the SIPO were presented within the study visit, mostly the Trademarks Department, the Office’s Information Centre for Intellectual Property, the Information Technology Service and the General Affairs and Documentation Department.

The Office’s activities were presented to the API delegation, undertaken in order to strengthen awareness of the broader public of the importance to observe intellectual property rights, as well as the experiences regarding institutional establishment of second instance procedure in the procedures for granting industrial property rights.

This visit contributed further to professional cooperation, which has been extremely developed so far with the Kosovo Industrial Property Agency that signed a formal agreement on cooperation with the SIPO, thus contributing to stronger cooperation in the field of intellectual property on a regional level in total.