Every year on April 26 over 100 countries around the world celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day. The Latvian Patent Office together with the world’s leading intellectual property institutions will organize an international seminar on topical issues in the field of intellectual property rights. This year’s seminar theme will be “Protection of intellectual property rights: designs and trade secrets.” The seminar will take place at the Development Finance Institution ALTUM, Dome Square 4, Riga, Latvia.
The seminar will focus on design and trade secret issues. Experts from the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Ministry of Justice, as well as several field professionals will share their expertise and knowledge.
In the first part of the seminar, the WIPO representative Mr. Mikhail Faleev will give an in depth insight into the Hague system for the international registration of industrial designs. Mr. Justas Ivanauskas from the EUIPO will give a presentation on the recent decisions and practice of the EUIPO on disclosure of designs on the Internet. Mrs. Rūta Olmane will discuss industrial design protection matters from the perspectives of ECTA and rights holders.
The second part of the seminar will be devoted to trade secret issues. Mr. Bruno Vandermeulen from the Bird & Bird Law Firm will discuss what should companies do to prepare for the transposition of the Trade Secret Directive. Ms. Luīze Mantiņa from the Ministry of Justice will speak about this directive’s implementation in Latvia. Mrs. Andris Voitkāns from the `Groglass` Ltd. will share his experience in trade secret protection in Latvia from the SME’s perspective.
After the seminar an awards ceremony of the annual competition “Trademark of the Year 2017” will be held honoring the owners of the best trademarks registered in the previous year. Awards will be presented in two categories – “Latvian Trademark of the Year” and “International Trademark of the Year”.