On 17th October 2023, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) Commissioner Adv. Rory Voller hosted and chaired the 15th BRICS IP HIPO (heads of IP Offices) meeting. The meeting, held virtually, was attended by the Heads of the IP offices of Brazil : INPI: Mr Julio Moreira, Russia – ROSPATENT – Mr Yury Zubov, India – CGPDTM – Dr Unnat Pandit, and China – CNIPA Dr Shen Changyu.

The IP BRICS bloc focuses on leveraging the strategic partnerships to advance IP policy goals; harmonising the IP environment, and supporting the overall BRICS objectives.

The meeting commenced with update reports on the progress of the various work streams. This was followed by the introduction of new proposals and outcomes aimed at enhancing the multilateral collaboration, the ones reached finality were also approved for implementation or publication on the IP BRICS website.

The Heads unanimously supported the work carried out thus far by the respective lead offices and approved the new projects and proposals. New proposals included a focus on the IP and Youth by CIPC-South Africa; the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the examination of Patents and Trademarks by INPI-Brazil; preparation of guidelines on IP system in BRICS countries for entrepreneurs by ROSPATENT-Russia; the initiative of GCPDTM-India in the preparation of a booklet titled “unleashing the potential of a decades IP Multilateral Collaboration”; proposals by CNIPA-China on Work Plan to Strengthen the Dissemination of the Outcomes of the IP BRICS Co-operation; and update of the Operational Guidelines and inclusion of ICT and Digital Transformation Workshop in the IP BRICS Cooperation. Completed projects and outcomes included the Study on patents using 3D images by INPI-Brazil,Survey outcome of IP and Women by the CIPC-South Africa and Lists of Next-step Cooperation Projects under the Trademark and Industrial Design Streams by CNIPA-China.

The meeting was concluded by the chair while noting the decision by the Heads of the BRICS nations to invite six countries to “become full members of BRICS from 1 January 2024”.