On Thursday, 7 March, Director of the Latvian Patent Office Agris Batalauskis signed a memorandum of understanding with Director of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office Karin Žvokelj on the further cooperation between the two institutions and the exchange of experience in the areas of intellectual property (IP) protection and awareness raising.
The memorandum envisages the exchange of experiences, knowledge, and good practices in daily activities of the IP institutions of Latvia and Slovenia, promoting the awareness of industrial property and the importance of its protection among the public including young people as one of the target audiences.
Cooperation is essential for both institutions in various areas of activity including commercialization of IP; implementation of the mediation process and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the field of IP law; geographical indications for craft and industrial products; integration of IP issues into school and university curricula; organization of various educational events.
Director Agris Batalauskis states: "The cooperation with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office will allow the mutual exchange of experiences and best practices which, in turn, helps improve our work, creates a broader perspective and provides even better customer services. Such cooperation promotes the creation of new ideas and solutions which, in turn, stimulates innovation and development in the field of IP."
At the same time, the Latvian Patent Office and the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office will cooperate in organizing various international events and in implementing other projects and activities.
During the two-day working visit to Slovenia, the director and experts of the Latvian Patent Office met with the management and experts of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office and the Portuguese Industrial Property Institute. There was also a productive and valuable meeting with the management and experts of the Public Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation of the Republic of Slovenia during which the experience of both countries in the areas of commercialization and technology transfer was discussed.