April 26, 2007
The Celebration of the World Intellectual Property Day

This year,also, at the festivity held in the Club of Representatives by the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia, we have marked the 26th of April, the World Intellectual Property Day. On that occasion, Ms. Branka Totić, the Acting Director of the Office has given a message to the public.

“The Office has been engaged in the task of the protection of creativity since 1920. That was the year when the Industrial Property Office of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded, as the unique state body, which would conduct the administrative procedure with regard to the acquisition and maintenance of industrial property rights. Since then, till the present day, the Office has performed its tasks in continuity, relied on the significant tradition of the intellectual property protection in this region. Despite all the changes, this government institution remained relatively stable, due to the dedication to its mission, which is, in the nature of affairs, distanced from the fleeting ideological and political determinations.

Speaking of tradition, we wish, at the moments when history puts at a test all the values of a society, including those that we considered indisputable, to remind ourselves of the fact that the Kingdom of Serbia was one of the eleven countries co founders of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883. That means a great deal, but it also poses a huge obligation.

In order to answer to the challenge of the époque and to the high expectations of the state and the public, the Office has the obligation not only to widen its activities, but also to impose upon them strict standards of efficiency and quality, following the positive experiences of the corresponding national institutions, in Europe and the world. The started process of European integration additionally makes that obligation pressing. With the great energy of the employees in the Office, and the support of the relevant expert and political factors, from the country and abroad, we are in the process of enhancement not only of the administrative, but also of the educational capacity of the Office, which will lay foundations for the natural development of this important institution, in the following decades, and its continually better integration with the social and economic environment.

The vision of the development of the Intellectual Property Office is now a very concrete issue. It can be observed in a serial of activities that the Office initiated. That is most strikingly observed through publications prepared in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization. The publications are intended for the business circles with a goal to explain the connection between the intellectual property protection and successful business. They cover all forms of intellectual property and we are convinced that they represent a significant step in the elevation of public awareness on the meaning and role of the protection of different intellectual property rights. The important thing in that process, is that they shall not produce effect in an isolated manner, but together with the modern and simplified access to information, which has been achieved by the fact that, from now on, the data base of the distinctive signs, and from the next year, the data base on patents shall be fully searchable via the Internet. The transparency of the Office shall be heightened by the media campaign, broadening public awareness on the importance of intellectual property protection, which the Office will start in the following months together with the European Agency for Reconstruction and the European Patent Office.

Being aware of the importance of defining the role of all the relevant institutions of our society (educational, scientific, research, as well as the administration and jurisdiction) for the proper functioning of the intellectual property system, the Office is ready to initiate complex, but necessary work of writing the Intellectual Property Strategy. The Strategy should establish the goals and determine the dead lines and methods for its realization.

All this represents ways of effective fulfillment of the mission that the Office has undertaken. It is now realized in a dynamic way through new openness and direction towards the users of the system of intellectual property protection. We are convinced that this glasnost, which has been stronger now than ever in the history of the Office, really represents a new quality of work and that its further development shall be a concrete vision that we strive towards.”

Mr. David Jelarčić, from the European Patent Office, spoke about the results of the CARDS National Program for the advancement of the operations of the Intellectual Property Office, which has represented an introduction in the presentation of the public Internet access to the national data base of distinctive signs and the International Patent Classification, bearing in mind that this big, concrete step was made by the Office with the assistance of the European Patent Office and the European Agency for Reconstruction. This issue is the significant advancement of transparency in the system of intellectual property protection in the Republic of Serbia, because the data base of the distinctive signs shall be searchable via the Internet. The functioning of this public access to the national data bases of trademarks and designs, just like the patent classification was demonstrated by Ms. Snežana Basara – Grulović and Ms. Danijela Zlatić-Šutić.

On this occasion, The Silver Plate was handed in to the Program “This is Serbia” of the Radio Television Serbia, which, in the course of years, showed considerable understanding for the need of advancing public awareness about the importance of intellectual property right enforcement.

For the sixth time, the Intellectual Property Office presented awards, at the traditional public advertisement for the pupils of the elite secondary schools in Serbia, which was designed and realized by Aleksandar Petrovic, Ph.D. This time the awards were given to the pupils of the Grammar School in Pozarevac Miss Marina Stefanović, Mr. Miloš Ljubisavljević and Miss Milica Radovanović.