16th BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting held in Moscow

On 10-11 October 2024 Moscow hosted the 16th BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property (IP) Offices Meeting, which was held under the chairship of Yury Zubov, Head of Rospatent.

The participants discussed the progress achieved under the established cooperation workstreams and ongoing projects. The BRICS IP Offices approved the following documents:

• project proposal by Rospatent “The role of IP offices in technological development and identifying breakthrough technologies”;
• project proposal by CNIPA-China “Comparative Study of Practices Concerning Product Indications”;
• project proposal by CNIPA-China “Common Statistical Indicators”;
• project proposal by CGPDTM-India “Traditional Systems of Medicine and Knowledge for use in Modern Science”;
• project proposal by CGPDTM-India “AI and Machine Learning Intervention in Trademark and Design”;
• “BRICS Patent Information Services Report” prepared by CNIPA-China.

During the meeting the IP Offices of new BRICS countries expressed their interest in working jointly within BRICS and engaging in activities and projects, including on topics such as coordination in international fora, geographical indications, copyright, training and raising public awareness.

The IP Offices reached agreement on preparation of a new edition of the Operational Guidelines Framework for IP BRICS Cooperation by the next Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting.

An open session “Intellectual Property as a Factor of Economic Development in the BRICS Countries” was also held on the sidelines of the meeting. Among the speakers were Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Kolesnikov, Director of the Legal Department of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Council of the Chamber for Intellectual Property Dmitry Fadeev, and the President of the Eurasian Patent Office Grigory Ivliev. The participants discuss the role of IP in BRICS cooperation as well as current challenges and tasks in this field.