BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Signing the Meeting Minutes

The 11^th Meeting of BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices (BRICS HIPO) was held in Cape Town, South Africa from April 15 to 16 local time. Commissioner Shen Changyu of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), President Cláudio Vilar Furtado of the National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil (INPI), Director General Grigory Ivliyev of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia Federation (ROSPATENT), Controller General Shri O.P. Gupta of the Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks of India (CGPDTM) and Commissioner Rory Voller of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission of South Africa (CIPC) led delegations respectively and attended the meeting. President Saule Tlevlessova of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) attended opening sessions of the meeting as a nonvoting delegate on invitation. Minutes of the 11^th Meeting of BRICS HIPO was signed in the meeting.

Shen Changyu pointed out that 2019 was the seventh year of cooperation among the BRICS IP offices. With closer relations of cooperation, more practical cooperation content and more fruitful achievements, the BRICS IP Cooperation Programme had been playing a more and more significant role in the international IP industry. During the two days of meeting, the BRICS IP offices had in-depth discussions on issues of IP strategy of medium, small and micro-sized enterprises, national IP strategies and enhancement of public awareness, personnel training, data exchange and information services, management of overstocked patent applications and strengthening of cooperation at international forums; consensuses were reached and remarkable achievements were made. Shen Changyu remarked that he hoped for the BRICS IP offices to further implement the BRICS Summit Declaration and the Joint Statement on Strengthening Intellectual Property Cooperation , and promote IP to play a more significant role in promoting cooperation among BRICS countries.

The meeting approved the template for BRICS IP public awareness enhancement and the management framework document of the BRICS IP cooperation website, and passed and signed the minutes of the 11^th Meeting of BRICS HIPO. It was confirmed in the meeting to continue to hold BRICS Intellectual Property Examiner Training Seminars and promote the BRICS countries to cooperate on exchanges of patent information and data. The meeting also decided to extend the BRICS IP cooperation to the fields of design and trademark.

During the meeting, the BRICS IP offices also exchanged views on hot topics including cost reduction for PCT of universities, WIPO standards, WIPO’s external offices, and language expansion of the Madrid System and the Hague System. INPI will serve as the chairman of the BRICS IP Cooperation Programme for one year since April 2019.

On April 14 local time, Shen Changyu had bilateral talks respectively with heads of INPI, ROSPATENT, CIPC and CGPDTM, and exchanged opinions on strengthening bilateral cooperation and other IP topics of common interests. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)