The traditional internship of examiners from the national patent offices of the Eurasian Patent Organization member states started today at the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO). The EAPO President emphasized in his welcoming statement what the internship participants shall concentrate on in addition to experience exchange.

“Methodology is the most important issue you need to discuss during your internship. We should not have any contradictions. I would like you to promote the concept of a common Eurasian information and examination space after this internship”. The EAPO President stated that this applied both to the methodology and the analyzed files. “I would like to jointly reveal the difficulties that the national patent offices are currently facing”.

Grigory Ivliev mentioned that the traditional internship of EAPO examiners reminded him of the BRICS expert meetings, where professionals from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa exchanged the best practices of their patent offices. Such international multilateral meetings allow for the joint determination of development priorities, issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, problems of access to sources and databases, and other difficulties.

The President of the EAPO highlighted that the Office is ready to share its technologies and practices with the national patent offices, but this cooperation has been of a one-time nature so far. Grigory Ivliev hoped that the participation of examiners from the Eurasian Patent Organization member states in the internship would help formulate the relevan requests that the national patent offices are having today.

He also noted that the EAPO would carefully consider the opinion of the national patent offices in its examination if they had previously granted the applicant a national patent, as well as uphold the EAPO decisions when challenging the Eurasian patents. Grigory Ivliev emphasized that the intellectual property system had proven its effectiveness and stability, mainly due to the work of examiners in challenging circumstances.

The internship of the national patent office examiners will last until June 30, 2023. During the internship, the national patent office professionals will learn about the EAPO working procedures, peculiarities and methods of examination, calculation of fees, regional regulatory requirements, electronic services of the Office, and other aspects of the Eurasian Patent Office work.