On 7 December this year, at the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) took place the documentation visit of the representatives of the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, who are in an evaluation mission of the research-development-innovation system of the Republic of Moldova. Evaluation takes place under the Community Program Horizon 2020 by means of the tool for facilitating and supporting policies. The national system of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights is included in the list of priority areas for evaluation by European experts.
European Commission Delegation was constituted of seven experts - four independent and three representatives of the European scientific community - from three EU member countries: Romania, Austria and Estonia.
At the meeting with the European experts participated the leadership of AGEPI and heads of divisions and departments responsible for the process of examination of applications and grant of titles of protection of intellectual property objects, elaboration of the normative-legislative framework in the field, promotion and strengthening of international relations, including on the scale of European integration in the field of intellectual property.
During the meeting, European experts were familiarized with the components of the national system of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including was presented the national normative-legislative framework and the degree of harmonization thereof with the acquis communautaire in the field, the policy documents in the field of intellectual property, especially the National Intellectual Property Strategy until 2020 and the National Action Plan for the implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union for the years 2014-2016; the institutional framework on intellectual property and AGEPI collaboration with the public authorities and institutions with responsibilities in the given field, etc.
European experts were informed also about the projects implemented by AGEPI in recent years, namely: implementation of the system for online filing of applications for protection; implementation from November 1, 2015, of the System of validation of European patents in the Republic of Moldova, assistance in the creation and strengthening of intellectual property and technology transfer offices in universities through the Tempus TecNet project, strengthening of the process of training and education in the field of IP through the introduction of the master course in intellectual property, etc.
Special interest aroused the support activities and services provided by AGEPI to institutions in the sphere of science and innovation and higher education of the country to ensure patent protection and exploitation of scientific and innovation activity results, namely: the facilities granted for payment of fees for patent protection of inventions, ensuring free access to information in the IP field and databases that include information about filed applications and granted titles of protection through the AGEPI website, provision of prediagnosis services of portfolios of IP objects held by institutions, improvement of the skills of specialists in the field of intellectual property, promotion of autochthonous scientific and innovation achievements in the international exhibitions of inventions, new products and technologies from the country and abroad, etc.
At the end of the meeting AGEPI specialists responded to questions addressed by the European experts aimed at the practical application of the provisions of the normative-legislative framework for the protection of inventions, statistics of protection of inventions on different categories of owners, the most requested fields of protection of inventions, relations between the employer and inventor, protection of domestic inventions abroad, the degree of applicability of the protected inventions, etc.
