Joint Statement by the National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia Federation, the Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks of India, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission of South Africa on Strengthening Intellectual Property Cooperation

On 26 March 2018, the Heads of the National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil (INPI), the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia Federation (ROSPATENT), the Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks of India (CGPDTM), the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (CNIPA) and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission of South Africa (CIPC) (hereinafter referred to as the "BRICS IPOs") met in Chengdu, China, at the 10th Heads Meeting of BRICS IP Offices.

The Heads of BRICS IPOs jointly reviewed the sustained progress made within last six years through BRICS IP cooperation, explored ways to further strengthen IP cooperation among BRICS countries, and made the following joint statement:

We commend a series of cooperation activities and pragmatic achievements made since the BRICS IPOs initiated cooperation in 2012, including the formulation of “BRICS Intellectual Property Offices Cooperation Roadmap” and BRICS IPOs' mandates under the said Roadmap, the launching of a regular Examiners' Training Program for BRICS IPOs' patent examiners, the consensus reached in the matter of international cooperation and collaborations, the growing development of cooperation in the fields of information service on IP, IP/patent processes and procedures, IP strategies of medium, small and micro sized enterprises, etc. At the same time, we welcome active involvement in coordination at international fora, delivering unified BRICS voice on major international IP issues, and making contributions to IP and economic development of the BRICS countries.

Recognizing that:

Intellectual Property has become important resources for national development, playing significant roles in stimulating innovation and promoting economic development.

The BRICS IPOs are taking more and more important positions in world IP field. Maintaining close cooperation among BRICS IPOs is in the common interest of BRICS countries, which helps in creating favorable environment for innovation and sustainable development, and promoting IP development in emerging economies.

The BRICS IP cooperation shall fully take into consideration and respect the differences of economic development level, culture, innovating capacity and legal systems among BRICS countries.

We agree to identify visions and directions for future cooperation activities on the existing cooperation basis and to strive for reaching the following cooperation objectives:

Promote IP development in BRICS countries;

Provide better services to BRICS IP users and the public;

Enhance the voice and representativeness of BRICS countries in the development of global IP system.

Based on the above cooperation objectives and as agreed and executed within the framework of “BRICS Intellectual Property Offices Cooperation Roadmap”, we will consider cooperating in the following fields and other potential areas:

1. Contribute to exchanges and cooperation on IP laws, regulations and policies.

Within the scope of each IPO's competence encourage the development of IP with the concept of mutual benefit, making exchanges on the information and experience of each country's IP related laws, regulations and policies.

Strengthen IP exchanges and cooperation in both traditional and emerging areas (like genetic resources, traditional knowledge, folklore and IP in internet environment), jointly promote the development of relevant IP systems.

2. Strengthen capacity building to provide convenient and efficient services to the public and IP users, and help them better utilize IP system.

Carry out cooperation and experience sharing on IP registration and examination capacity building.

Encourage exchanges and cooperation among user groups including IP service departments and other relevant agencies.

3. Support exchanges and cooperation on enhancing public IP awareness.

Encourage IP publicity activities to develop the culture of respecting IP, and support exchanges and cooperation on World IP Day and related activities.

Encourage and guide the market entities to strengthen IP utilization, promote exchanges and cooperation especially on improving the IP utilization capacity of medium, small and micro sized enterprises.

4. Cooperate on fostering education in the IP field.

Continue to support exchanges and cooperation on the training of IP examiners and administrative staffs, namely by organizing yearly Training Program for BRICS IPOs' patent examiners.

Support the exchanges and cooperation on capacity building of IP service personnel among BRICS countries.

Support exchanges and cooperation on talents cultivation through long distance education.

5. Strengthen sharing and utilization of IP information.

Support IP information sharing and data exchanges within the scope of each other's laws and regulations and in accordance with each office's capacity and demand.

Encourage the constant opening-up and sharing of IP data and information resources towards the public, strengthen information service to IP users.

Establish and open BRICS IP website to the public for facilitating the information accessibility of the public.

6. Continue to cooperate on coordination at international IP Fora.

Reaffirm the support to WIPO for its central role in international IP affairs.

Encourage the BRICS countries to continue strengthening communication on issues of common interest at multilateral platforms including WIPO, and deliver BRICS voice at international arena on consensus.

7. Continue to strengthen the building of BRICS cooperation mechanism.

Continue to strengthen the coordinating role of high-level meetings including the Heads Meeting in IP BRICS cooperation, optimize cooperation mechanism at various levels, and constantly deepen cooperation.

Carry out work in accordance with the cooperation Roadmap agreed by BRICS IPOs, and will also explore to upgrade the Roadmap regularly based on the progress in each cooperation stream.

The four offices of Brazil, Russia Federation, India and South Africa commend the work of CNIPA as the Chair Office of IP BRICS cooperation mechanism in 2018, and extend sincere gratitude to CNIPA for hosting the 10th Heads Meeting of BRICS IPOs.

Brazil, Russia Federation, India and China will support South Africa in all efforts to host Heads meeting of BRICS IPOs and other relevant activities.