EEU to sign agreements on protection of intellectual property in 2015

In the wake of the intellectual property agreements to be signed by the Eurasian Economic Union, the Minister of Justice of Kazakhstan Berik Imashev observed recent trends in registration and protection of trademarks, copyrights and other types of intellectual property in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports citing BNews.kz.

Foreign companies are responsible for 52% of all the trademarks registered in the country. “As of today, Kazakhstan has been excluded from the Special 301 Report prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The list includes countries that cannot provide adequate protection of rights and intellectual property,” Imashev said.

According to the Kazakhstani Minister the list includes 39 countries such as Argentina, India, China, Canada, Mexica, Brazil, Greece, Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.

“If we talk in terms of numbers, the number of protection documents issued over the past five years has increased by 61%. Trademarks make up the largest proportion of the registered entities. Local applicants for registration of trademarks account for 47%,” Imashed said.

Imashev also mentioned Kazakhstan’s position in the Global Competitiveness Report - Kazakhstan has improved its rating by 42 points since 2011. Currently Kazakhstan is in the 74th place in the Intellectual Property Protection rating. Finland, Luxembourg and Singapore are in the top 3 of the rating according to the GCI.

The ranking of the country in the GCI is affected by the administrative and legal reforms as well as the effectiveness of the work conducted by law enforcement of Kazakhstan. The country's capacity to protect intellection property also counts.

Imashev added that Kazakhstan became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1993.

In 2015, Kazakhstan, as a member of the EEU - a economic union of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia - plans to sign three international agreements in the realm of protection of intellectual rights.

“Intellectual property is an important part of the economic integration in the EEU that will come into force on January 1st, 2015. Securing a unified approach to protection of copyrights and design rights on the territory of the Customs Union (a predecessor of the EEU) has been identified as one of the priorities of the economic integration,” Imashev said.

The first agreements to be signed in 2015 provisions protection of trademarks and Protected Designation of Origin on the territory of the EEU countries. “The document attempts to increase the number of applicants for the registration of trademarks,” the Minister explained.

The second agreement will help coordinate protection of intellectual rights in the member countries. This agreement provides inter-institutional cooperation to enhance the legal framework and to exchange information on detection and countering violations, he said.

“The third agreement envisions procedures for shared management of copyrights and collective rights. The agreement regulates gathering, allocation and payment of royalty fees,” Imashev said. The agreement also identifies a timeline for the royalty fee payments.

By Gyuzel Kamalova