19 | 10 | 2023

Meeting of the representatives of intellectual property offices of the extended Visegrad Group in Opatija

 

The meeting of the representatives of intellectual property offices of the so-called extended Visegrad Groups countries was held this autumn on 13 October in Opatija, hosted by the State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia.

The Visegrad Group (V4) reflects the efforts of the countries of the Central European region to cooperate more closely in a number of areas of common interest within the framework of pan-European integration. The Visegrad cooperation is not institutionalized but is based solely on the principle of meetings of its representatives at different levels. The Visegrad Group (V4) includes the Czech Republic, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Poland and the Slovak Republic, whereas Croatia, together with Austria, Slovenia and Romania, are the “friend”-countries, making together the so-called extended Visegrad Group.

The meetings of intellectual property office of the Visegrad Group are being held, as a rule, twice a year, in the first half of the year in one of the V4 member countres, and in the second half of the year in one of the friend countries. After several years of pausing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tradition of holding regular meetings of intellectual property offices has been resumed in 2023, so that a meeting in June was held in the Czech Republic, whereas Croatia got the opportunity to host the autumn meeting.

Together with Director General of the Office, Ljiljana Kuterovac and Acting Deputy Directory General, Irena Tušek, the meeting was attended by directors and heads of individual office departments and esteemed guests Szabolcs Farkas, President, and Csaba Baticz, Head of Legal and International Department of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office; Andrea Scheichl, Vice President of the Austrian Patent Office; Světlana Kopecká, Director of International and Legal Affairs Department, and Jana Engelová-Pavková, Head of the President’s Office of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic; Patrycja Czubkowska, Deputy President, and Piotr Czaplicki, Director of the Biotechnology and Chemistry Department of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland; Jitka Mikuličová, Directress of Legal and Legislative Department, and Emil Žatkuliak, Head of International Affairs Department of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic; Denise Senečić, Head of General Affairs Division of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office.

During the working part, information and news were exchanged between the delegations (current initiatives and activities at the national level and beyond) and issues related to legislative activities at the EU level were discussed (reform of the industrial design protection system, introduction of the system of unique EU geographical indications for craft and industrial products, the so-called patent package of the reform of the system of certificates for the protection of medicines and plant protection products, patents essential for standards and compulsory licenses), with the European Patent Office (Strategic Plan 2028, framework for cooperation), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (influence of the EU, regional groups, diplomatic conferences) and the EUIPO/EU Intellectual Property Office (changes at management level).