Annual Technical Report 2009 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Republic of Moldova (CWS/ATR/TM/2009/MD)

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

I. Evolution of registration activities

In 2009, the upward dynamics of filing trademark applications, registered since 2000, suffered a sudden breakdown. Thus, AGEPI received 5277 applications, with 1531 (22.5%) less than the previous year. Of the total number of applications, under national procedure entered 1807 (34%) and under international procedure  3470 (66%), including 175 applications (3.3%) – under the Madrid Agreement procedure and 3295 (62.4%)  under that of the Protocol relating to that Arrangement.

On December 31, 2009, the total number of applications received during the entire period of AGEPI activity amounted to 81,094, including 28,453 applications (35%) filed by national way and 52,641 (65%)  by international way; 79.4 percent of applications proceeded from the foreign applicants and 20.6 – from the national ones.

The number of applications filed by the national applicants and the foreign ones under the national procedure decreased by 21.8% compared with the previous year. Following the amendments to Article 9 sexies of the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement, the number of international registrations for the Republic of Moldova under the Protocol procedure increased significantly  by 139% and the number of applications filed under the Madrid Agreement diminished by 94.4 percent, as a whole being registered a decrease by 22.8% of registrations by international way compared with 2008.

The weight of applications for registration of trademarks is approximately the same as the previous year: 23.4% are incumbent upon the national applicants and upon the foreign ones  76.6% of the total of filed applications; while under the national procedure, 1211 applications (67.1%) come from the national applicants and 596 (32.9%)  from the foreign ones.

Most applications filed by the national applicants  1010 (83.4%)  proceed from natural or legal persons having their domicile or headquarters in the city Chisinau, 36 (3%)  in Floresti, 25 (2.1%)  in Anenii Noi, 21 (1.7%)  in Ialoveni, the rest of approximately 120 applications (10%)  in other administrative-territorial units of the republic, being emphasized the cities Balti and Tiraspol and the districts Glodeni and Taraclia. In 2009, applications for registration of trademarks under the national procedure were filed by applicants from 46 countries, a more increased interest in the Republic of Moldova being shown by those from the United States of America (8%), Switzerland (4%) Ukraine (3%), Russian Federation and Japan (2% each), United Kingdom, Turkey and Germany (1% each), the applicants from other countries accumulating in sum 10% of the total amount of applications.

Under the Madrid System procedure, applications proceeded from applicants from 54 countries, most of them proceeding from Germany (16%), Russian Federation (10%), Switzerland (9%), Italy (8%), France (6%), and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) (5%), etc.

Altogether, in 2009 were filed trademark applications by applicants from 71 countries, the largest weight belonging to those from Moldova. In the applications filed by national way, the most requested classes, according to International Classification of Goods and Services (CIPS), remain to be: 35 (advertising, business management services, etc.)  677 applications (being on the decrease by 7 percentage points compared with 2008) and 05 (drugs, pharmaceuticals, etc.)  425 applications (being on the increase by 7 percentage points); at the same time there increased the interest in classes 30 (sugar, flour, preparations made from cereals, etc.)  224 applications and 29 (meat, fish, poultry and game, eggs, milk and milk products, oils, etc.)  187 applications, but decreased the interest in cl. 33  167 applications (being on a decrease by 4 percentage points), etc. Under the international procedure, on top of preferences remains cl. 05 (976 applications), its claim frequency increasing by 4 percentage points; followed by classes 35, 09 (various apparatus and instruments, computers, etc.), 25 (clothing, footwear, etc.). Other classes have not undergone great changes.

During the year under review, 7087 applications for registration of trademarks were examined in all, with 1241 (21%) more than the previous year. Following the substantive examination in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 38-XVI on the Protection of Trademarks of 29.02.2008, there were accepted totally or partially 87% of the 2487 trademark applications filed under the national procedure and 91% of the 4600 applications submitted under the international procedure. Respectively, 13 and 9 percent of applications were refused registration.

Monitoring of the grounds for refusal attests that 78% of refusals on applications filed under the national procedure and 82% of those on applications filed under the Madrid System are based on relative grounds (conflict with identical or similar trademarks protected on behalf of other persons for identical or similar goods/services); 6% and, respectively, 5% of refusals were issued on the ground that the requested signs were deceitful or liable to mislead; 12% and, respectively, 5% of refusals  on the ground of lack of distinctiveness of signs requested for registration, etc.

In 2009, in the National Register of Trademark Registration Applications were entered 1648 applications, 118 applications have not met the conditions for filing and 181 applications were deemed withdrawn, not being met the other conditions set by the Law.

During the period under review, AGEPI, as an office of the country of origin, checked and transmitted to WIPO 22 applications for international registration of marks under the Madrid System procedure, with 20 (48%) fewer than the previous year.

Among the countries most frequently designated for protection in the applications for international registration filed by the national applicants are Romania (in 68.2% of applications), Ukraine (in 54.5%), Belarus (in 41%), Russian Federation (in 36.4%) and USA (in 32%).

Concomitantly with the new applications there also were filed trademark registration renewal applications: in 2009 there was supposed to expire the term of validity of 2723 trademarks, including 2063 international trademarks and 660 national trademarks. Altogether, there was sought the renewal of 2351 trademarks (with 92 - 3.8% - less than in 2008), this figure constituting 86% of the number of trademarks whose term of validity was expiring in 2009. Most of renewals  2276 (97%)  was requested by foreign owners, including 2049  for international registrations and 227  for national trademarks. The national owners have filed 75 (3%) applications for renewal of trademarks. The share of trademarks, for which the renewal was sought, in respect of the number of registrations, for which the term of validity was supposed to expire, constituted 46% for national registrations and 99%  for international ones. It should also be mentioned that these data are relative, because there is a gap between the date of expiry and date of filing of the renewal application. It should also be taken into account the existence of the grace period of six months for the trademark renewal request.

In the year under review, 1780 trademark registration certificates were issued, approximately at the same level with 2008 (1774). The national owners obtained 1044 certificates (59%) and the foreign ones  736 (41%). The number of certificates issued to national owners increased by 40 (4%) as compared with 2008 and that of those issued to foreign owners decreased by 34 (4.4%).

As in the case of applications, most of trademark registration certificates, issued to national owners, belong to persons with domicile or headquarter in Chisinau  83%. At a very big distance from them are situated the owners from Floresti (3%), Anenii Noi (2%), Ialoveni (2%), Balti (1%), Tiraspol (1%), Glodeni (1%), Taraclia ( 1%), the remaining 6 percent belonging to owners from other administrative-territorial units.

In the year under review, 253 certificates were issued for renewal of trademark registration, of which 41 (21%)  to national owners and 212 (79%)  to foreign ones. Compared with the previous year, the number of issued renewal certificates fell by 250 (50%), while being certified a reduction by 67 (62%) in the number of certificates issued to national owners and by 183 (46%) in the number of certificates issued to foreign owners. The share of renewal certificates is 38% of the number of registration certificates whose validity term expired in 2009, by 32 percentage points lower than in 2008.

From the start of its activity until 31 December 2009, AGEPI issued 19,419 trademark registration certificates. The significant difference between the number of applications for registration and the number of issued certificates is explained by the fact that AGEPI does not issue certificates of registration for international trademarks. On 31 December 2009, there were valid 16,306 certificates (84%), including 4787 renewed, these latter constituting 29% of the valid certificates.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks

http://www.agepi.md/en/statistica/marci.php

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information

The main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information are:
- The Official Bulletin of Industrial Property Protection (BOPI);
- The Trademark Register;
- National Register of Applications for the Registration of Trademarks

BOPI including Sections IV and V with information on trademarks and appellations of origin, from January 2000 onwards is available online via our AGEPI web site at www.agepi.md in portable document format (PDF).
Section IV of BOPI contains:
- Applications for registration;
- Examined applications for trademark registration;
- List of registered trademarks;
- List of renewed trademarks.
Section V contains:
- Examined applications for appellations of origin of goods;
- List of registered appellations of origin.

Section VII contains various types of notices referring to all amendments occurred to the legal status of the protected industrial property objects (List of amendments, List of assignment agreements, Errata, etc), the half-yearly subject indexes of registered trademarks.
The AGEPI maintains a complete history of its national trademark files in paper form.

In 2003 began the creation of the electronic archive, until now all paper files relating to registered national trademarks have been already scanned.

III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification (please indicate whether goods and services for the registration of marks and whether the figurative elements of marks are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification(s) is (are) used)

During 2009 the AGEPI applied:

International Classification of Goods and Services (Nice Classification), the nineth edition; (as from 01.01.2007)

International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), the fifth edition.

Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services

To check the conformity of goods and services to the Nice Classification and of the figurative elements to the Vienna Classification, the AGEPI uses the electronic classification system on the CD ROMARIN and electronic version of classification translated into Romanian.

Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied

It’s not obligatory for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied but is highly recommended.

Bibliographic data and processing

Data included in the WIPO Standard ST.60.

IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep

The examiner’s search files are the following:
• paper-case with the list of signs protected under Article 6 ter of the Paris Convention not included in the “Article 6 ter CD”;
• list of geographical indications which are protected under a bilateral or regional agreement in respect of the protection of geographical indications;
• list of names of plant varieties registered in the Republic of Moldova.

The following e-cardfiles are used:
• card - file of appellations of origin grouped in numerical order;.

At the disposal of examiners, there are foreign databases on CD-ROM (ROMARIN, Russian Federation, USAMark, and Community Trade Mark Bulletin, Romanian database on trademarks), Trademark Gazettes of different countries and via the Internet the Madrid Express Database – data collection hosted by WIPO. From October 10, 2002, the AGEPI has at its disposal the CD-ROM with INN from OMS, which is used for search purposes. The examiners also use different browsers for search in Internet, dictionaries, atlases and electronic encyclopedias.

Moreover, the manual paper search files consist of encyclopedias, dictionaries, special books, periodicals, and a number of other lists and sources.

Both the examiner’s search files and documentation at the library are updated on a regular basis

V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)

In the period under review the AGEPI developed and improved the following information products:

• program for registration procedure management and program for statistical accounting of trademarks filed according to the international procedure under the Madrid System, as well as program for data processing in the XML format;

• program for searching in the database “National Trademarks” including registered trademarks, valid in the Republic of Moldova, using the WEB technology.

VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security

The IP IRC functions simultaneously as an in-house and public library and is open to the public during 5 days (except Saturday and Sunday) from 9:00 to 16:00.
All the received documents are registered, classified and grouped for storage purpose.

Collection management, preservation

The main information sources of the IP IRC collection are the official publications of the AGEPI, Official gazettes and literature (normative, methodical, reference books, dictionaries), periodicals.

On December 31, 2008, the collection of documents on the intellectual property information retrieval center constituted 25,810,327 publications and documents, including:
 Books and pamphlets – 5212 copies (0,02%);
 Periodicals (magazines, newspapers) – 10,663 copies (0,04%);
 Official bulletins – 22,872 copies (0,09%);
 Documents on electronic carrier – 25,746,008 copies (99,75%);
 National documents (patent applications, patents, utility models, plant varieties, etc.) – 8,467 doc. (0,03%);
 CD, DVD – 17,105 (0,07%).

At present, the digital library consists of 31 textual databases and 17 reference and bibliographic databases, with a volume of 25,75 million documents, and the literature collection includes 47,214 copies of books, magazines, dictionaries, encyclopedias in the scientific technical, legal, financial, economic and informational fields.

Due to the new acquisitions, the electronic catalogue of the IP IRC database was completed with the bibliographic descriptions of 561 titles (DB “BOOKS” – with 411 registrations and DB “IP ART” – with 150 articles from the periodical editions and collections of scientific materials).

Among the most important periodicals published by AGEPI is the magazine of intellectual property “Intellectus” appearing regularly since 1995 with a quarterly periodicity. According to the Joint Decision of the Supreme Council for Science and Technological Development (SCSTD) of ASM and the National Council for Accreditation and Attestation (CNAA) No. 61 “on the Results of the Assessment and Classification of Scientific Profile Journals” of 30 April 2009, the magazine “Intellectus” was accredited to “B” category, on law, technology, biology, chemistry, economics profiles. In 2009, the four issues of the magazine included a total of 73 scientific articles. Nearly one third of the materials are signed by the authors of the AGEPI and two thirds  by authors from outside, including from abroad.

Besides periodicals, about 20 works which have completed the collection of literature in the IP field have been written and published during the year under review:
The Annual Report AGEPI-2008  in three languages (Romanian, English, and Russian), published on paper carrier and on CD;
The collection of normative acts in IP field: vol. I  Industrial Designs; vol. II  Plant Varieties, vol. III  Inventions;
The collection of communications presented at the VII edition of the International Conference “Theoretical and Practical Issues of the IP Economy” with the main title “Innovation in Support of SMEs”;
The booklet “Protection of Intellectual Property in the Republic of Moldova. Brief Information”;
The Catalog of ISE “INFOINVENT-2009”, which included a total of 407 abstracts of inventions/cycles of inventions in Romanian and English;
The booklet “WIPO Gold Medal Winners” (completed and updated);
The WIPO Guide for Exporting SMEs “Secrets of Intellectual Property” (signal copy).

During the year under review there have been updated and edited a series of booklets and leaflets from the collection “Library of Intellectual Property”:
“The ABC of Intellectual Property”;
“How to Register a Trademark in the Republic of Moldova”,
“Catalog of AGEPI Publications”;
“Welcome to AGEPI”;
“Here You will Find the Key to Success!”;
“AGEPI Services”.

At the users disposal was put, in bilingual booklets (Romanian and Russian), special regulation related to the special law in IP field adopted in a new version and entered into force in 2008-2009:
“Regulations on the Procedure of Filing, Examination and Registration of Trademarks”.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and trademark information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

AGEPI continued publishing a series of periodicals, developed or updated new methodological and IP field popularization works on electronic and paper carrier which can be subscribed or consulted with the Intellectual Property Information Retrieval Center (IP IRC) of the Agency or accessed on the website www.agepi.md.

The AGEPI IP IRC has a general reading room and a specialized PC room. The total area constitutes 125 sq. m. During the year 2009, the IP IRC services were requested by 207 new readers, 862 persons have extended their subscription, including 170 employees of AGEPI. The loan of documents has reached 16,590 documents. Upon request, the beneficiaries have been rendered the necessary methodological assistance, 397 free consultations on the use of electronic database, the correct application of international patent, trademark, industrial design classifications in the documentary search process.

In 2009 the Database “National Trademarks” was placed on the AGEPI web site, users acquiring free access to any type of independent searches in the field of trademarks.

Since 1993 AGEPI elaborates, publishes and spreads the periodic publication Official Bulletin of Industrial Property (BOPI), which appears with a monthly periodicity on paper carrier (ISSN 1810-7095), CD-ROM (ISSN 1857-050X), and on-line on www.agepi.md.

In the BOPI publishing process there are applied the WIPO Standards and the INID Codes for Bibliographic Data Identification Concerning the IPO. At the end of each month, the ordinary number of BOPI is made available for public at IP IRC, on the AGEPI site and, printed on CD, is dispatched in more than 40 countries of the world. Through BOPI, users had access to 26 half-yearly systemized indexes of titles of protection granted in the Republic of Moldova and the annual Index of regulatory acts and information materials published in BOPI during 2009.

Sections “Monitor”, “Information Materials in Intellectual Property Field” and the heading “AGEPI Chronicle” of BOPI covered 97 materials, including texts of five normative acts on industrial property entered into force in 2009, official communications and information on most important events organized by AGEPI or conducted with the participation of AGEPI in the country and abroad, etc.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to trademarks; opposition and appeal procedures related to trademarks; etc.

http://www.agepi.md/en/marci/

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., trademark search service(s) and trademark databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

Services rendered by AGEPI
http://www.agepi.md/en/servicii/prestate.php#3

Trademarks. Databases
http://www.agepi.md/en/linkuri/marci.php

Search in Trademarks Database
http://www.db.agepi.md/marcireprezentanti/Search.aspx

Trademarks. Guides on filling in forms
http://www.agepi.md/en/marci/ghid/

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of trademark information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes

In 2009, the main ways of completing IP IRC collection, remained the same – the bilateral exchange with homologous offices from abroad, subscription to the specialized periodicals, acquisition of the literature by means of libraries, publishing houses, book fairs, donations etc.

The AGEPI Library cooperates intensively with 36 territorial Libraries and 38 foreign libraries of Patent Offices abroad to which the IP information (official gazette) and other literature in this field is furnished regularly for further dissemination information in field of IP in the territory.
For instance, the magazine “Intellectus” is distributed to libraries of the country (of the Parliament and Government of the Republic of Moldova, ASM, university, district, municipal, republican specialized libraries in various branches of science, etc.) and from abroad, through exchange of special scientific publications with similar institutions (WIPO, EPO, EAPO, OSIM, etc.), as well as by subscriptions.

Dissemination of information in IP field is also made through the supplement of the magazine “Intellectus”, the digest “AGEPI Info”, which addresses various aspects of intellectual property protection, the mechanism of enforcement of rights and exploitation of IPO, publishes the most important events held on the initiative or with the participation of AGEPI, brief reports on delegation of AGEPI specialists to the main activities organized by WIPO, EPO, EAPO, etc., reproduces the most relevant occurrences of the Republican press with reference to the IP system. The four numbers of the digest “AGEPI Info” covered 153 materials on various aspects of IP, being distributed within the major IP promotion actions, at seminars and exhibitions, staff training courses organized by AGEPI. 55 patented inventions, developed by about 200 inventors, were promoted in 2009 by means of the heading “Stock of Inventions”. Over 920 inventions susceptible of implementation have been promoted in total during the period 2004-2009.

During the year 2009, AGEPI collaborated actively with press services of Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Government and Presidency, the agencies “Moldpres”, “ Basa-press”, “Infotag”, “Logos-press”, the weekly “Ekonomicheskoe obozrenie”, the newspaper “Nezavisimaya Moldova” , the Journal of Science and Innovation “Perpetuum Mobile” and the Moldovan Review of International Law and International Relations of ASM, the journal “Marketing” and the Economic Magazine “ECOnomist”, the radio stations “Antena C”, TRM “Actualitati”, Moldova International, etc.

The activity of operational information of the general public on the events and activities organized by AGEPI or with the participation of AGEPI, diversification and expansion of the IP information dissemination space were on the agenda of the Agency during the reporting period.

In the given context, AGEPI cooperated systematically with 45 mass media, the journalists being invited to all the approximately 30 events organized by AGEPI. Seven press conferences were convened devoted to:
The national seminar “Respect for IP Rights”;
The World Intellectual Property Day with the theme “Protecting Green Innovations”;
The Regional Seminar “Singapore Patent Law Treaty”;
The inauguration of ISE “INFOINVENT-2009”.

During the year there were distributed 14 press releases, various information and publications of AGEPI while being monitored the materials disseminated in the mass media on IP theme, the most representative, of the total of 90, being reproduced in the digest “AGEPI Info”.

With the participation of AGEPI experts there were organized 15 radio and television broadcasts, including the radio broadcasts cycle “Eureka” (11 editions), discussions on the protection of geographical indications, appellations of origin and traditional specialties guaranteed from the cycle “Modern Technologies” of the radio station “Antena C”, TV shows on the occasion of the World IP Day, 10-th anniversary since the establishment of the Association “Copyright and Related Rights (AsDAC)”, opening of ISE “INFOINVENT-2009”, etc.


VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

Promotion of the national intellectual property system among economic agents through exhibitions has proved successful over time. In 2009, AGEPI continued this tradition by actively participating in 22 exhibitions, including 7 international and 15 national, most of them being organized at IEC MOLDEXPO JSC.
Information stands, round tables and seminars related to procedures for the protection of trademarks and industrial designs, benefits of protection of geographical indications, appellations of origin and TSG, IPO evaluation, brand role in promoting goods and services were organized within 8 national exhibitions, such as:
 Made in Moldova
 ConsumExpo
 Agrotech
 Moldagrotech, Farmer

An extensive information dissemination and consultancy activity relevant to trademark activities was conducted within 7 national exhibitions:
 ExpoVin Moldova
 Beauty
 Moldconstruct, Moldenergy
 Tourism, Leisure, Hotels
 Cominfo
 MoldMEDIZIN, MOLDENT
 Furniture

In 2009, AGEPI promoted and stimulated the innovation activity in the Republic of Moldova, ensuring participation at 7 international exhibitions, namely:
 International Exhibition of Inventions, Techniques and New Products, Geneva, Switzerland;
 International Exhibitions of Research, Innovation and Inventiveness “PROINVENT”, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
 International Exhibition of Creativity and Innovation “Euroinvent”, Iasi, Romania;
 International Exhibition of Innovation, research and new technologies “Brussels Innova”, Belgium;
 International Exhibition of Inventions and New Technologies “New Times”, Sevastopol, Ukraine;
 International Exhibition of Inventions, Scientific Research and New Technologies INVENTICA 2009, Bucharest, Romania;
 International Salon of Industrial Property ARCHIMEDES, Moscow, Russian Federation.

One of the most valuable International Specialized Exhibition organized by the AGEPI: INFOINVENT (in 2009, the 11th edition) which welcomed specialist from abroad IP Offices:
 State Office for INVENTIONS AND Trademarks of Romania (OSIM);
 European Patent Office;
 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO);
 Romanian Office for Copyright and other institutions.

In 2009, one of the most significant Republican Contest: “Trademark of the Year”, the main aim of which are the following:
 Identifying and promoting efficient marketing strategies in the field of development and promotion of product and service trademarks
 Creating a favorable image of Republic of Moldova abroad
 Highlighting the rating of successful trademarks on the market and their role in business
In the period from 2003 – 2008, the contest registered 500 projects from 14 districts of the country, from Chisinau, from Balti, and about 200 trademarks were rewarded with prizes in various nominations.

In June 2009, the 1st edition of the Business Conference “Trademarks Day” took place in Chisinau.

With the view of familiarizing with the provisions of the new national legislation on the protection of trademarks harmonized with the Acquis communitare, AGEPI organized in Chisinau and in the territory Balti and Comrat, almost 21 actions, independently or jointly with several institutions, including 11 training and information seminars for researches, inventors, teachers, trainers for a doctor’s degree, students from research and development field.

In June 2009, AGEPI representatives participated in the Meeting of autochthonous manufacturers of drugs with the theme “Optimizing the production of Indigenous medicines in the conditions of global financial crisis” which addressed issues like:
 Role of IP rights in the protection of pharmaceutical products
 Insurance of rights
 National and international protection of trademarks in the pharmaceutical field

Training courses for national and foreign participants

During the period under review, 22 persons attended the long term IP courses organized by the AGEPI (addressing the Trademarks Protection issues, also), acquiring certificates of Counselor in Intellectual Property (in 2008-29 persons).

In the same period took place:

- The attestation of 4 patent attorneys, their number amounting to 98 persons at the end of the year and

- The re-attestation of five evaluators of intellectual property objects, the terms of validity of their certificates of qualification being extended.

In 2009, with WIPO's contribution, in Chisinau were organized 2 seminars focused on enforcement of intellectual property, as well as protection of trademarks:

- The Regional Seminar "Singapore Trademark Law Treaty" (7-8 April, 2009);

- The National Seminar AGEPI-WIPO "Respect for Intellectual Property Rights to the Courts, Police, Customs" (6-7 October, 2009).

In turn, the AGEPI employees have participated in the following trademark related issues international events:

 1st session of the Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System (Appellations of Origin), organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), (Geneva, Switzerland, March 17 to 20);

 Sub-Regional Seminar on Modern Management of Intellectual Property Rights, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks of Romania (OSIM), (Timişoara, Romania, May, 27 – 28);

 Interregional Intermediate Seminar on Industrial Property, to be organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) followed by a Practical training course on various aspects of industrial property at the headquarter of the Center for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI), (Geneva, Switzerland, June 10 – 12/Strasbourg, France, June 15 – 26);

 Interregional Intermediate Seminar on Industrial Property, to be organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) followed by a Practical training course on various aspects of industrial property at the Czech Industrial Property Office in Prague, (Geneva, Switzerland, June 10 – 12/ Prague, Czech Republic, June 15 – 26)

 Seminar on the Internal Market Acquis for the Eastern Partnership Countries and Workshop on Macrofinacial and Macroeconomic Policies, organized by the European Commission’s Directorate General Enlargement (Brussels, Belgium, September 29th - October 3rd);

 The 22nd session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT), organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), (Geneva, Switzerland, November, 22 -27);

 Inter-regional Seminar „The role of intellectual property (IP), in particular, Trademarks (TM) and geographical indications (GIs), in creating, developing and strengthening a nation brand”, organized by the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic in cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), (Prague, Czech Republic, November, 25 – 28);

 WIPO-Italy International Convention on Intellectual Property and Competitiveness of micro, small and medium sized enterprises, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro, Ministry of Productive activities, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Rome, Italy, December, 9 – 12).

IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

provide information on legislation related to trademarks

http://www.agepi.md/en/acte/acte_normative.php?type=2

contain the Annual Report of the Office

http://www.agepi.md/en/despre/raport/

contain trademark-related news regarding the Office


http://www.agepi.md/en/noutati/

X. Other relevant matters