Today a celebration of 98 years of the existence of the Intellectual Property Office has been organized. The celebration that took place in the Club of Representatives was attended by state officials, the representatives of the academic community and numerous lawyers offices, representatives for the collective management of copyright and related rights and other distinguished guests.
The opening address was given by the Director of IPO, Mr. Vladimir Marić. After emphasizing the great tradition of the most important Serbian institution dealing with IPR protection, Mr. Marić stressed that the importance of IPR is greater than ever before and that almost one third of the world trade refers to intangible assets and the goods and services protected by intellectual property. He emphasized that last year, at the Global index of Innovations, Serbia occupies the 55th place from 120 countries. The greatest contributions of the IPO to the efficient work of the administration lies in the digitalization of operations and special efforts were made to enable the electronic filing of the applications for IP rights. Prof. Tibor Sabo, PhD, Asst. Minister for Science in the Ministry for Education, Science and Technological Development announced two new laws, the Law on the Fund for Science, to be adopted soon, and the Law regulating Research & Development Activities. The number of the published scientific works at the faculties is significant. Serbia is at the 89th place according to the GDP. Therefore, there is room for satisfaction.
The World Intellectual Property Organization presented traditional annual awards for patent, industrial design, monography/study in the field of social sciences, invention made by schoolchildren and legal person that uses the international system of trademark registration most successfully. You can read more about WIPO awards here.
Mr. Goran Jović, Director of the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jablanica and Pčinj District presented the registration of the “ajvar” - pepper delicacy from Leskovac, and explained how the geographical indication of origin contributed to the promotion and commercialization of this product.Two young musicians from the School of Music “Josip Slavenski” contributed to the festive atmosphere.