On 26 August, Mr Grigory Ivliyev, Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), chaired the 12th Meeting of the BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices via videoconference.

The Offices summarized the work progress of the previous year, shared the results of joint projects and outlined prospects for further strengthening cooperation between the Offices and expanding dialogue on new aspects of intellectual property.

The meeting was specifically focused on the activities of the Offices during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the Offices highlighted the essential role of digital technologies in communicating with applicants and providing services. The Sides also discussed the measures introduced by each Officein response to the spread of COVID-19. The list of measures taken by the Offices during the pandemic is available on the IP BRICS joint website.

Taking into account that digital technologies are a frequently discussed topic at international venues, it was proposed to include digitalization as a permanent agenda item of the BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meetings, thus launching a new cooperation stream on this matter.

The meeting resulted in several key agreements, including the development of joint statements of the BRICS countries to be presented during the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) events scheduled for 2020, accelerating the information exchange on the applications related to technologies to combat COVID-19, as well as including digitalization in the field of intellectual property as a new cooperation stream.