Deficiency of law and defects of enforcement policy create a serious barrier for intellectual property effective protection. These issues were discussed by participants of the Round Table on the National Strategy development in the field of IP, which was held in the Conference hall of the State Customs Service on March 2, 2010.

The meeting was organized in the framework of the WIPO delegation visit to Kyrgyzstan. Mr. Marchant, Mr. Svantner and Mr. Matveev presented their conceptions of the future Strategy. Top managers from the State Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Customs Service, Agency for Culture, Service of Financial Police, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representatives of district courts, business associations, lawyers on intellectual property issues, patent attorneys as well as officials of Embassies and international organizations such as the UNDP and USAID.

Mr. Ulan Melisbek, Director of the State Intellectual Property Service of the KR and Mr. Dmitrij Fedorov, Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Service under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic opened work of the Round Table with welcoming speeches, calling the participants to discuss the topic actively.

Then Mr. Michal Svantner, Head of the WIPO delegation, took the floor. He told about significance of intellectual property for economic indexes amelioration in countries in transition. Mr. Svantner noted that the WIPO has provided, first of all, a consultative support and successful realization of the Strategy would depend on conjoint and concerned participation in this process of all public and political parties. The special role at protection of intellectual property and right holders’ interests belongs to customs, controlling and law machineries. So it is important for officials to understand well the significance of intellectual property for the country development.

In the course of Mr. Marchant’s presentation a serious discussion kindled among participants. Most of all complaints were addressed regarding defects of law enforcement and a certain imperfection of legislative norms. For these reasons producers of counterfeit and pirate production in Kyrgyzstan mostly escape; some owners of trademarks simply leave the market, getting tired to combat with unfair competitors.

Mr. Serguei Pavlovskij, Head of the Association for Intellectual Property Protection, noted that Kyrgyzpatent has undertaken considerable efforts to protect IP and establish the effective legislative base. But only one Office is unable to resolve all problems. It is important to attach all “players” to develop the National Strategy in the field of IP: from law machinery and state bodies to public and business associations.

Participants of the meeting submitted their proposals for the future strategy development and Mr. Melisbek expressed the readiness to consider any idea.