On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at the Small Theatre “Duško Radović” in Belgrade, on the occassion of the celebration of the 103rd anniversary of the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia, awards were presented to the winners of the competition of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for 2023 in five categories.
Video recording of this event can be seen at the following link on the YouTube channel of the Intellectual Property Office.
Mr. Vladimir Marić, Director of the Intellectual Property Office, in his introductory speech, emphasized, in particular, the current importance of the artificial intelligence: “The question is shall the artistic creation, as well, which used to be, in the traditional sense, reserved for humans, slowly be transferred into the hands of the machines manipulated by the artificial intelligence. Or more precisely – shall we grant to the machines that they are authors. The CISAC started an initiative to regulate this question legally, primarily by envisaging that machines can be only a means in the hands of a human being- helping him to create. In the root of that philosophy is the same philosophy that was presented by Isak Asimov some time ago, speaking about the principles of robotics: no robot should be allowed to hurt a human being. I also believe that in the root of all this, that the authors look for, dwells the same fear – how to be protected from being hurt by the artificial intelligence, how to prevent them from leaving millions of creative people in the world without jobs and means for existence.”
Mr. Milan Čukić, state secretary of the Ministry of Economy, emphasized among other things: “The key regulation that we worked on in the previous period is the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, and this is the ideal chance to emphasize specially that the European Commission, in its last report from a few days ago, underlined that Serbia has a good level of protection of intellectual property. This regulation is the foundation of our creative industries. Over a hundred thousand, predominantly young people, work with us in that sector”.
Ms Marina Soković, Assistant Minister in the Sector for Science of the Ministry for Science, Technological Development and Innovations emphasized in her speech: “As we all know, science as the spiritus movens of society, is based on results that have been obtained, as the outcome of intellectual progress and intellectual results achieved by our scientists and researchers. It first occurs to the majority of people that IP concerns only patents for the protection of technical solutions. But, in the process of getting acquainted with the work, in particular amendments of the bylaws, we noticed that it is not only about the issue of protection of the mentioned categories of rights, but also various types and kinds of bacteria. In the course of discussion with our colleagues engaged with that issue, we saw that it concerns a very strenuous work lasting for 10 and more years. I believe that these people really deserve, though the protection of their work and protection of intellectual property, to get recognition and to have their work valorized in some way.”
The publication “Entrepreneurship Ideas: Guide for Intellectual Property for Start-ups”and other WIPO tools for start-ups, were the topic for presentation held by Silvia Trpkovska and Ryszard Frelek from the World Intellectual Property Organization – IP for Business Division, the representative of the Section for Central European, Baltic and Mediterranean States in this Organization.
Ms. Silvia Trpkovska stated in her speech: “Serbia has a right to be proud of its innovations and creativity, as well as the long tradition of intellectual property protection; Serbia has inventions which change the world and the works of art from the beginning of history to the modern times. The Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia placed all its capacity at the disposal of the inventors, creators, producers and businessmen and that is in the essence of its activities. The Office represents also an excellent example for the entire region, thanks to the progressive and diverse approach in the promotion of the intellectual property as the means for the economic and cultural development.”
Mr Ryszard Frelek paid special attention to the industry of video games, as a good example of the importance of the intellectual property protection: “We wish to underline that the intellectual property is not only the legal issue, where we should learn about the legal paragraphs and numbers. It is a very important tool for businesses which will help you to make success in your work. One of the examples is the development of video games, because intellectual property is in the heart of this industry. From story, through music, acting, graphic design, all the way to branding and marketing, everything is made possible and protected by intellectual property”.
The awards of the World Intellectual Property Organization were presented to the winners by Vladimir Marić and Silvia Trpkovska.
The WIPO National Award for Inventors, in the category of inventors or group of inventors for the granted patent which is valid, implemented and proven successful on the market, has been presented to Vojin Jeremijević, who realized patent protection under number PC64046 for the invention “Improved device for protection and neutralizing of medical needle”. The purpose of this invention is to reduce possibility of accidental injury of medical workers from stab by needle, that may occur during or after the injection, as well as during handling contaminated sharp objects before and after removal.
Mr Vojin Jeremić said about the award and his invention: “This is the recognition and appreciation of long years of work on the development of apparently so simple, but actually quite complicated invention, with the large range of implementation. The money must never be a problem when it is the question of safety, but thanks to the original design, the safety needle needs minimum amount of inserted plastic for its realization. The result is that its price for production is identical like with the standard needle”.
The WIPO National Award for Enterprises, in the category for domestic legal person or domestic entrepreneur, for the economic implementation of industrial property, was presented to the business company Green Wheat Nemet ltd, Palić, which, at the moment, has 10 protected trademarks for its products. The company is engaged in the production of specialties from spelt, and after having done the lyophilization of spelt, it can now be consumed in the form of powder, where the product may keep in higher concentration its nutritive components, it can last longer, and for those who mind taste, there is spelt in tablets and spelt with honey, lyophilized juice from barley for energy and detoxication of organism, spelt for sportsmen, etc.
Ms Klementina Kovač Nemet, co-owner of the company, talked about the importance of the prize and the protection of intellectual property: “In 2014, when I made the first trademark for the company, I did not understand its importance. In 2020, we had serious problems with unfair competition and it went so far that they even copied our packages. Then we understood our mistake and noticed how we should have protected it. That is when I understood the importance of trademarks. I thank the expert panel of judges for the award.”
The WIPO National Award for Schoolchildren, in the category of pupils or group of secondary school pupils, for the invention, was awarded to Milan Mirčić, the pupil of the fourth grade of the Mladenovac Grammar School for the invention under the title: “System of artificial intelligence for behavioral – psychological analysis”. The idea of this invention was how to make a device that shall use the power of artificial intelligence for object detection, in the real time limit, to analyze and recognize the body movements of the patient.
Mr Milan Mirčić said about his invention: “I had the desire to connect my love for psychology and my love for informatics. So, I came to the idea to construct device, using artificial intelligence, to analyze human body movements, and, on the basis of that, estimate how a person feels at that moment. The very analysis of the body movements already exists and it is used for various kinds of research. Now, one of the less popular and desirable kinds is the police investigation, but it can also be used for various kinds of psychological analysis. This work can automatize and speed that up. That is the issue I wished to achieve.”
The National Award for Creativity, in the category for the author of monograph – study exhibition with the catalogue, in the field of social and humanistic sciences, was awarded to Mr Dimitrije Vujadinović for the publication with the title: “Bread in the Proverbs and Sayings of People All over the World”. This publication is a kind of anthropological history of bread. The author collected more than a thousand concise anthropological thoughts dedicated to bread which collect in the laconic expressions the popular wisdom through the years and the feeling of symbiosis of life and bread.
Dimitrije Vujadinović emphasized several thoughts about bread: “In his time, Dostojevski said that nothing is so positive in the world like the bread. Our people, when they wish to recommend someone, they say – Good as bread! When they want to express disapproval, they say – Bread is tasteless for him. Speaking about the contents of this work, the author emphasized: “The topic is bread, but bread is not only food. It is the symbol of happiness and unhappiness, good and bad, heath and illness, richness and poverty. And of course, it is a great religious symbol. We can thank bread for everything that is around us today and that we have created.”
In cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization, we awarded a prize for the domestic legal person with the greatest intensity of use of the international system of registration of trademarks in the 2023 – WIPO National Award for WIPO users. This award was presented to the company “Galenika ltd. Beograd”, which in 2023, in comparison with all other domestic legal persons, had the largest number of the internationally registered trademarks.
Ms Aleksandra Mašić, representative of the awarded company, talked about the importance of this award: “From the beginning of its business, Galenika bases the important segment of its business policy on the intellectual property protection, in the framework of pharmaceutical industry. It is, without a doubt, an important part in the development of the corporative brand Galenika, which became famous trademark, which has a good reputation and which is trusted. The same holds true for our products. By protecting trademarks, Galenika protects knowledge, quality, consumers and its patients.”
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