Launched in 2006, the BRICS intellectual property (IP) cooperation has built up an all-round and multi-layered cooperation system. The arrival of a new economic era and the emergence of a new industrial revolution are increasingly strengthening the fundamental role of IP in protecting innovation and propelling economic development.

WIPO statistics indicate that in recent years, with BRICS's growing attention to IP, their patent applications continue to increase, particularly cross-border applications between them. Applicants in any of the five countries take the other four as their important target markets and major destinations for seeking IP protection. This says a lot about that enhancing the BRICS IPR cooperation is a need for them to deepen cooperation and better serve their enterprises and innovators.

Against such a background, to further facilitate the development and exchanges of IP between them and their user service for propelling innovation and economic growth, the BRICS IP offices established a long-term mechanism in 2012 under a joint initiative from the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) and the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).
So far, the BRICS IP offices have held nine sessions of the Meeting of BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices (BRICS HIPO), as well as a series of other important conferences and events. On March 26, 2018, the 10th Meeting of BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices was held in Chengdu, China. This marks that all the five offices have hosted and chaired one BRICS HIPO session.  The BRICS IP offices have harvested fruitful results over the past few years since their cooperation begun.

The BRICS IP offices uphold the spirits of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win result. Within the framework of the BRICS Intellectual Property Offices Cooperation Roadmap, the BRICS IP offices formed a multi-layer framework of cooperation in the six fields of training of intellectual property office staff and examiner exchange program, national IP strategy and promotion of public awareness on IP, information services on IP, IP/patent processes and procedures, and IP strategy for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises(MSMEs) and international forums. The cooperation has taken BRICS HIPO as a guide and coordination group meeting as a coordinating institution.

The past has indicted that the BRICS IP cooperation has been growing from scratch to specific results and expanding its scope, with an increasing status and role worldwide. Looking ahead, the BRICS IP offices will work together to continue moving their cooperation forward, provide further impetus to economic and social development in the BRICS countries and push the global intellectual property system forward in a direction that is more inclusive, balanced and effective.

October 2012, Switzerland: Heads of BRICS IP Offices Met for the First Time, Laying a Foundation for Cooperation
In October 2012, during the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO, heads of BRICS IP offices met for the first time to explore their cooperation possibilities, which laid a foundation for cooperation between them.

May 2013, South Africa: 1st Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In May 2013, the 1st Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was held in South Africa, marking the launch of the five offices' cooperation. At the meeting, the four offices (India was absent due to unexpected reasons) further confirmed their cooperation basis. They discussed and approved the BRICS Intellectual Property Offices Cooperation Roadmap, which identified seven “cooperation streams.” The meeting also discussed other cooperation issues such as meeting arrangement and the rotation of the chairing office, among others.

September 2013, Switzerland: 2nd Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS 
In September 2013, the 2nd Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was hosted by South Africa in Geneva, Switzerland. At the meeting, Controller General of the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks of India (CGPDTM) signed the BRICS Intellectual Property Offices Cooperation Roadmap. This completed the approval of the roadmap by all the five offices.

September 2014, Switzerland: 3rd Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In September 2014, the 3rd Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was hosted by Brazil in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting reviewed the results of their work since the last meeting and confirmed the time and location for the 4th BRICS HIPO.

June 2015, Brazil: 4th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In June 2015, the 4th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the meeting, the five offices further clarified the priorities of the roadmap, and restructured the seven “cooperation streams” into six ones. In addition, it is also decided to rename the BRICS IP Liaison as the BRICS Intellectual Property investigation group

October 2015, Switzerland: 5th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In October 2015, the 5th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was hosted by Russia in Geneva, Switzerland. At the meeting, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) proposed to hold annual personnel training and examiner exchange activities. This proposal received universal support and it was agreed that Rospatent would host examiner training in 2016. SIPO proposed to hold an experts panel meeting for a discussion of the roadmap plan one or two months ahead of BRICS HIPO. The other four offices gave positive feedback to this proposal.

June 2016, Russia: 6th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In June 2016, the 6th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was held in Moscow, Russia. The meeting examined and adopted the instruments of the six “cooperation streams” under the roadmap. In addition, SIPO briefed the meeting about multiple suggestions of improving their cooperation mechanism, and it was agreed that further discussions would be carried out to consider the suggestions.

October 2016, Switzerland: 7th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In October 2016, the 7th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was hosted by India in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting decided to continue examiner exchanges between the BRICS IP offices, jointly hold a seminar on small and medium-sized enterprises, jointly carry out activities to raise people's IP awareness, and launch cooperation on patent classification and online training courses.
In addition, on behalf of the five IP offices, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) issued a joint statement of technical assistance affairs under the Design Law Treaty.

April 2017, India: 8th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In April 2017, the 8th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was held in Deli, India. The meeting confirmed that they would continue to organize the BRICS Intellectual Property Examiner Training Seminar and the BRICS Intellectual Property Management Conference for MSMEs, finalize the BRICS IP data exchange list as soon s possible, and carry out classified cooperation in the field of traditional knowledge. The meeting also decided to launch the construction of a BRICS IP website. In addition, the BRICS IP offices also discussed hot-spot issues such as the Design Law Treaty and exchange ideas on issues such as online courses for distance education.

October 2017, Switzerland: 9th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS
In October 2017, the 9th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS was hosted by China in Geneva, Switzerland. At the meeting, they discussed IP-related hot-spot issues and decided to hold the 10th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS in Chengdu, China, in March 2018.

Establishing the BRICS Intellectual Property Coordination Group
The 4th Meeting of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS decided to establish the BRICS Intellectual Property Coordination Group which held its first meeting in Moscow, Russia in June 2016.
As of this year, five BRICS Intellectual Property Coordination Group meetings have been held by the BRICS IP offices, which provide a good exchange platform to move cooperation projects forward and implement the expected results of the Meetings of the Heads of National Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS.

Training of IP Office Staff and Examiner Exchange Program
As an important cooperation project between the BRICS IP Offices, the first BRICS Intellectual Property Examiner Training Seminar was organized and hosted by the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent). As of this year, the seminar has been held three times by the BRICS IP offices. The seminar provides a platform for BRICS IP examiners to carry out extensive discussion and in-depth exchanges on issues such as the legal rules of the five offices and their examination practices. (Translated from SIPO Website Chinese Version)

 

 

 

2018-04-02