The 11thmeeting of BRICS Heads of the Intellectual Property (IP) HIPO (Heads of IP Offices) was held in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa from the 15th to 16 April 2019. The meeting was hosted and chaired by the Commissioner of theCompanies and Intellectual Property Commission (South Africa) in his capacity as the current chairperson of the IP BRICS group (28 March 2018 to 16 April 2019).

The IP BRICS Group was represented and lead by Commissioner Rory Voller from the CIPC – South Africa, President Cláudio Vilar Furtado of the National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil (INPI), Director General Grigory Ivliev of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia Federation (ROSPATENT), Controller General Shri Om Prakash Gupta of the Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks of India (CGPDTM) and Commissioner Shen Changyu of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). Ms Saule Tlevlessova (President of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) attended the opening session of the meeting as a nonvoting delegate on invitation.

During the two daymeeting, the BRICS IP delegates held in-depth discussions on various IP issues including strategies to assist medium, small and micro-sized enterprises, enhancement of education and public awareness, personnel training, data exchange and information services, managing workload of Patent examiners, IP and development in the digital environment and strengthening of cooperation at international forums. Consensus were reached on several other important issues such as sharing of dates for various IP BRICS events, participation of IP BRICS representatives in SA’s SMME’s clinics; sharing SMME support strategies and research information of BRICS through publication on the IP BRICS website. Delegates also exchanged views on topical IP matters.

The meeting resolved to enhance the IP BRICS Intellectual Property Examiner Training Seminars to cover all IP domains and promote the BRICS countries to cooperate on exchanges of patent information and data.

The IP BRICS meeting summary Reportwas signed by the respective HIPO and brought to conclusion the 11th BRICS HIPO meeting hosted by the CIPC.

Further to the main HIPO meeting, several bilateral meetings were also held over the period by the respective members in pursuit of further collaborations and strengthening of partnerships in specific areas.

In handing over the chair to the President of INPI, Mr Claudio Vilar Furtado, Adv Voller congratulated INPI-Brazil on assuming the responsibility and wished them continued success in their period of chairship.