UN/ECE Advisory Group Protection and Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights for

Investment

THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT

SYSTEM SURVEY Prepared by the KAPPA Group Ltd, Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek – 2002

СONTENT FOREWORD 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS 2. PATENTS 3. TRADEMARKS 4. COPYRIGHT 5. UNFAIR COMPETITION 6. TRADE SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION 7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM 8. PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS FURTHER STEPS AFTERWORD

FOREWORD The present analytical research has been prepared by KAPPA Group specialists for the UN/ECE Advisory Group Protection and Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights for Investment. A standard questionnaire of the Advisory Group filled out by the State Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic on Science and Intellectual Property (Kyrgyzpatent) served as a basis for this research. The objective of the research is to provide a comprehensive comments in addition to the information provided by Kyrgyzpatent. The consultants used all available materials and legal documents related to intellectual property protection. In order to identify the most problematic issues and to obtain a professional opinions on the related subject a number of meetings with the representative of law enforcement bodies, judges, patent attorneys, private companies and the specialist of Kyrgyzpatent has been held. It is necessary to note that the researches made an attempt to present broader information then it was covered by a standard questionnaire allowing us to receive a closer view on the situation in the field of intellectual property protection. Having examined the actual situation, a number of both general (systemic) and specific questions arose. Therefore, following the terms of references a decision has been made not to focus on legal practice of particular cases, but to provide a broad picture of the situation. KAPPA Group accepts full responsibility for the statement and formulation of results. The present document provides only personal views of authors on the related subject. For further references: Dr. Emil Alymkulov Director general KAPPA Group Ltd KYRGYZSTAN E-mail: kappa@elcat.kg

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS Institutional Development Similar to other CIS countries, establishment and formation of the intellectual property system in Kyrgyz Republic directly related to gaining an independence in 1991. Introduction of the Kyrgyz national agency on intellectual property was initiated in 1993 when the Patent Department as part of the State Committee on Science and New Technologies (ministry status) has been established by the Government. In January 1995 the Patent Department has been transformed into the General Department in Intellectual Property under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzpatent). Thus, the department has been given a status of independent governmental institution confirming the importance and priority of the relevant sector for overall country development. Since that time Kyrgyzpatent executes the functions of the state organisation on all intellectual property issues implementing the united governmental policy in the field of industrial property protection, copyright protection, related rights protection, selective achievements protection, and integral microchip topology protection. By the moment Kyrgyzpatent has been established there was a small number of various patent services at enterprises, ministries and agencies, and a patent department of Republican Scientific Technical Library having insufficient patent related information. At that time the interests of inventors were represented by the specialists of the Society of Inventors and Innovators. At the early stages of the development of patent system an institution of patent attorneys has been established. At the expense of Kyrgyzpatent a renewal of the national patent fund was made, and actions have been taken to stop the breakdown of patent services at enterprises and organisations. At present, the structure of Kyrgyzpatent includes: • Expertise Centre (expertise of industrial property subjects); • Centre of collective management of authors economic rights and right holders

(collective management of authors rights); • Research and Training Centre (training and re-training of specialists); • IP Fund (promotion of creation and use of IP objects); • «Tabylga» Innovative Technologies Centre (support of innovative and exhibition

activities); • Patent-Technical Library (information support). A special status of Kyrgyzpatent within the framework of state executive bodies means that it is funded at the expense of IP registration and protection payments (duties). At the same time Kyrgyzpatent is a common tax payer i.e. it pays all taxes and has special accounts in Central Treasure. The inconvenience is that Kyrgyzpatent is unalloyed to open a foreign currency account and proceed with foreign currency coming in from foreign legal entities and individuals. Legislation One of the major tasks of Kyrgyzpatent in development of intellectual property system is a legal provision of relevant fields. To date 12 major laws on IP have been adopted:

• «On limitation of monopolistic activities and development and protection of competition» (1994);

• «Intellectual Property», Kyrgyz Republic Civil Code, II Part, Section 5 (1998); • «Patent Law» (1998); • «On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin» (1998); • «On Copyright and Related Rights» (1998); • «On Legal Protection of Computer Software and Databases» (1998); • «On Legal Protection of Integral Microchip Topology» (1998); • «On Legal Protection of Selective Achievements» (1998); • «On Trade Secret» (1998); • «On Working Inventions, Utility Models and Industrial Designs” (1999); • «On Trade Names» (1999); • «On Patent Attorneys» (2001). General regulating norms in IP field are implemented on the basis of the “Intellectual Property” section of the Civil Code (part II). In 2000, a Regulation on Well-known Trademarks has been approved by the Government resolution. The aim of this Regulation is to provide the protection of consumers from false representation of manufacturers, quality and origin of goods. However, the practice shows there are bottlenecks and contradictions between different paragraphs of this Regulation. For example, the Regulation does not specify the time for receiving the legal protection of well-known trademarks (the Russian regulation is retrospective) and does not provide the classification of goods by classes, sub-classes etc. At present, Kyrgyzpatent is working on amendments to the Regulation with taking into account all existing weaknesses. The court, law enforcement and other authorised state bodies use the following codes while working on identification of IP related offences: Civil and Civil-Procedural Codes; Arbitrate-procedural Code; Criminal and Criminal-Procedural Codes; Customs Code; Administrative Code.

Corresponding legal and methodical base determining the mechanisms of legal relations on particular IP issues in form of various regulations and rules (about 27 in total) has been elaborated. Intergovernmental Agreements Kyrgyz Republic has joint is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) since 1994. The country also joint the following agreements: • WIPO Convention (1994); • Paris Convention on Industrial Property Protection (1994); • Madrid Agreement On International Registration of Trademarks (1994); • Patent Cooperation Treaty (РСТ) (1994); • Eurasia Patent Convention (1996); • Nice Agreement on International Classification of Goods and Services for Trademarks

Registration (1998); • Lokarno Agreement on International Classification of Industrial designs (1998); • Vienna Agreement (1998);

• Agreement on Trade Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights (1998); • WIPO Agreement on Intellectual Property (1998); • Strasbourg Agreement on International Patent Classification (1999); • Bern Convention On Literature and Art Works Protection (1999); • International Convention on Protection of New Kinds of Plants (2000); • Patent Law Treaty. One of the forms of co-operation with other CIS countries is co-operation within the framework of Intergovernmental Council on Industrial Property protection and its working groups on informational activity automation, patent information exchange, and legal issues. Kyrgyzpatent takes part in preparation of multilateral CIS agreement on protection of inventions as part of Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC). Currently, 9 CIS countries are the members of the EAPC. In addition of multilateral agreements the intergovernmental agreements on industrial property protection have been concluded with Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Interagency agreements have been signed between Kyrgyzpatent and French Patent Agency, Russian Authors Society (RAS), Kazakh Agency on Authors Rights, Tajikistan Agency on Authors Rights and Moscow Representative Office of IFPI. During the period of 1996-1998 Kyrgyzpatent participated in the joint work of different governmental agencies on entrance of Kyrgyz Republic into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Particularly, Kyrgyzpatent was responsible for issues of trade aspects of IP rights (TRIPS). All IP related right are brought in accordance with WTO requirements. Kyrgyz Republic has joint WTO on 20 December 1998. Thus, according to WTO requirements on IP protection Kyrgyzstan is responsible for provision of legal environment of IP rights protection and implementation. One of such responsibilities is the creation of a system to help right-holders to obtain the support of customs service in prevention of import of fabricated and counterfeited goods (see Customs measures). We may say that, in general, the state system for IP protection in Kyrgyzstan is now established: there are 12 national lows and about 30 IP related bylaws (internal regulations). International legislation includes 13 multilateral agreements and more than 20 bilateral intergovernmental and inter-organisational agreements. Informational provision is based on the resources of the State Patent-Technical Library and Expertise Centre. Board of Appeal In order to improve the activity on provision the legal protection of IP the Board of Appeal has been established in 1998 as a part of Kyrgyzpatent. The Board of Appeal is a obligatory primary body to review the disputes regarding IP. The main objectives of the Board of Appeal are: review of appeals regarding decisions of Kyrgyzpatent and appeals against the issue of protection documents or registration of IP; preparation of proposals on improving the IP related legislation. The Board of Appeal is responsible for review of appeals against the decisions on: expertise of application for industrial property objects and selective achievements; objection against registration of the object of authors and related rights; against the issue of protection documents,

recognition of trademark well-known and service marks in the Kyrgyz Republic (in accordance with the criteria approved by the Government),

generalisation of practice of reviewing the disputes with an aim to improve Kyrgyzpatent’s activity (this is not being implemented – Author’s remark.)

The review may take from 2 to 6 months. The review of appeals is executed at the meeting of the Board of Appeal is case at least 3 members of the Board are presented. 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total Number of appeals 3 10 13 12 12 10 60 Number of reviewed appeals

2

6

16

11

12

8

55

Source: Kyrgyzpatent. After reviewing the appeal the members of the Board of Appeal make a simply majority decision on satisfaction, or partial satisfaction, or objection against satisfaction. The Board of Appeal is a prejudicial body responsible for review of disputes regarding the decision of Kyrgyzpatent itself. Thus, the members of the Board are selected from staff of Kyrgyzpatent. It would be reasonable to attract independent experts to participate in Board’s meetings, e.g. representatives of the Association of Patent Attorneys – Author’s remark. Interagency Co-ordination In order to perform the responsibilities on TRIPS and implement the right of IP a Special Jury under Kyrgyzpatent was created. The members of the Jury represent state executive bodies, law enforcement authorities, judicial, customs and tax agencies. The Jury is responsible for development of policy in the field of IP and provision of effective interagency co-ordination. The Jury co-ordinates the activity of administrative bodies, international organisations and non-governmental organisations; organises temporary working groups for preparation of legal documents, workshops and conferences; co-ordinates the creation of a unites IP related data bank. The Jury is headed by the Director of Kyrgyzpatent. Kyrgyzpatent performs the functions of the secretariat. In total 4 meetings of the Jury were held and two working groups – on trademarks and authors’ rights - were formed. It is difficult to assess the efficiency of such a mechanism as there is no information or official response available. However, by the opinion of Kyrgyzpatent specialists, this mechanism is the only way to co-ordinate the activity of different administrative bodies. Patent Attorneys Any individual attested and registered in the State Roster of Patent Attorneys at Kyrgyzpatent can be a patent attorney. In accordance with the Law on Patent Attorneys (2001) attestation and registration of patent attorney is implemented by Kyrgyzpatent in a form of examination. Individuals inhabiting outside Kyrgyz Republic or foreign legal entities are allowed to carry out the activities related to industrial property protection only through the patent attorneys registered at Kyrgyzpatent. The Law does not prohibit the patent attorney to carry out any other types of activity. At present, Kyrgyzpatent has registered 12 patent attorneys with different restriction volume. However, only 5 or 6 out of 12 registered patent attorney work on a permanent basis.

In order to develop and approve the ethic terms of patent attorneys the Association of Patent Attorneys has been established. We assume this Association can be a partner organisation for Kyrgyzpatent in future. Kyrgyzpatent could use the knowledge and experience of members of the Association while elaborating legal documents or attract them as independent experts. – Author’s remark. 2. PATENTS General The Patent law regulating property and relevant personal non-property relations emerging in connection with the creation, legal protection and use of objects of industrial property including inventions, utility models and industrial designs, has been effective since 1998. Under the above law the patent form of protection extends to inventions in all fields of techniques and technology, including substances, received by chemical methods, medicinal substances, methods of prophylactics, diagnostics, and treatment of people and animals. The law expands the rights based on the patent by protection of the methods used to receive a product, in which case the product is understood in its wide meaning – substance, article, material, etc. The product is considered received by the patented method, unless there is evidence proving the contrary. In other words, the burden of proof is shifted from the plaintiff to the defendant. Protection Documents The right in the object of industrial property is attested by the protection documents: a preliminary patent, patent and certificate. The rights in inventions and industrial designs are attested by the patent or preliminary patent and in utility models – by the certificate. Protection documents attest the priority, authorship, and exclusive right of the patent holder in the objects of industrial property. Preliminary patent and certificate are issued after the preliminary examination and the patent is issued after examination on merits. Preliminary patents last for a term of 7 years after the date of applying to Kyrgyspatent. The patent for invention lasts for a term of 20 years and 10 years - for industrial design. At the same time, the holder of the patent for industrial design is given the right to extend its validity period for up to 5 years by motion to Kyrgyzpatent. The certificate for utility model provides its holder with the exclusive right to use it and lasts for a term of 5 years with the right to extend for 3 years. In disputable situations and for the purposes of holding additional independent examination there has been introduced the institution of outside experts elected from among respectable scholars and practitioners, representing various fields of science and techniques. One may state the existence in Kyrgyzstan of the combined system of examination of inventions without prior arrangement and check-up examination. However, Kyrgyzstan is planning to abandon the practice of issuing the preliminary patent and shift to the check-up system with the subsequent issue of the uniform patent. Patentability of the Objects of Industrial Property Legal protection is warranted to the invention as a technical solution if it meets the criteria of novelty, inventive level, and industrial applicability. The novelty of the object of industrial property under legislation means the fact of existence of the information about

the appropriate object either in the local patent fund or in the more informatively rich Russian paten fund. The industrial applicability means the possibility of practical use of the object or its frequent reproduction. This aspect is the most vulnerable in Kyrgyzstan, as according to the internal procedures to be granted an academic status a candidate has to present the protection document issued by Kyrgyzpatent. Disadvantage is that eventually such objects will find no practical application. Originality is predetermined by the existence of material features, which condition the creative character of the peculiarities of an article. Typically, the source of information helping to establish local novelty is the State patent fund including previously submitted and not withdrawn applications as well as patented inventions and utility models. To establish an absolute novelty the information exchange with the Rospatent (the Russian Federation) is used. At the same time, it has to be taken into account that public disclosure by the author or any third party of information related to the object by which the subject matter of the object was made generally available not earlier than 6-12 months (depending on the type of object of industrial property) before the date of submitting the application, will not be deemed the circumstance affecting the patentability of the object of industrial property. In which case the responsibility to prove this fact is on the author. Protection of Patentees' Rights A patentee enjoys the exclusive right in the object protected by the patent including the right to prohibit other persons from using it except when such use makes no infringement. The following is not deemed infringement of the patentee's rights: Application of the means containing the objects of industrial property protected by

patents in the design of or during operation of transport vehicles (sea-going, river, air, land, and cosmic) of other countries given that the said vehicles temporarily or accidentally stay in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and are used for the purposes of the transport vehicle. Such actions are not deemed infringements of the exclusive right of the patentee if the transport vehicles are owned by individuals and legal entities of the countries providing the same treatment to the owners of transport vehicles of the Kyrgyz Republic; Making, experimental inspection and scientific research or experiment over the means

containing the object of industrial property; Application of such means in emergency (natural calamities, disasters, severe

accidents) with subsequent payment of commensurate compensation to the patentee; Application of the means containing objects of industrial property protected by patents

if these means were introduced into economic turnover in legal way in accordance with the rights provided by the patentee. In which case the person acquiring with the patentee's permission the means containing a patented object of industrial property or made by the patented method has the right to use or dispose of these means under no requirement to obtain additional permission unless otherwise provided by the agreement.

Use of the object of industrial property means making, application, import, offer for sale, sale, other introduction into the economic turnover or storage with this aim of the product containing the object of industrial property. The patentee may cede the obtained protection document to any individual or legal entity under the agreement on cession of the protection document subject to registration with

Kyrgyzpatent. The protection documents and the right to their receipt are transferable in succession. The Right of Prior Use Any third party which before the priority date of the invention, utility model, or industrial design irrespective of its author has made and used the solution similar to the object of industrial property or has made necessary preparations, retains the right to its further free use with the obligation not to expand. The right of prior use may be transferred to the third party only together with the production facilities where the similar solution was used or necessary preparations were made. Granting of the Right to Use the Object of Industrial Property Any person other than the patentee may use the object of industrial property protected by the protection document only with the permission of the patentee on the basis of the licensing agreement which is subject to mandatory registration with Kyrgyzpatent. Breach of the Protection Document Breach of the protection document includes the use of the objects of industrial property protected by the patent where such use fails to meet the requirements established by legislation. In case of breach, the patentee may claim the following: Discontinuing breach of the protection document; Payment by the person guilty of breach of the protection document of damages

inflicted including lost profit and moral harm; Recovery of the revenue generated by the perpetrator of the protection document

instead of payment of damages; Payment of compensation by the perpetrator as determined by the court at its

discretion instead of payment of damages or recovery of the revenue; Confiscation of the products being introduced into economic turnover or stored with

this aim and recognized breaching the protection document and the means specially designed for breach of the protection document; Publication of the court decision with the aim to rehabilitate his business reputation.

Along with the holder of the protection document claims to the perpetrator may be brought by the holder of an exclusive or non-exclusive licenses (if this is provided by the licensing agreement). Judicial Dispute Resolution All disputes pertaining to industrial property can be conventionally divided into four groups: (1) Disputes arising in the process of obtaining (formalising) exclusive rights in the

industrial property. (2) Disputes connected with the exercise by the owner of industrial property of his rights

in the industrial property; (3) Disputes connected with infringement of the rights of the owner of industrial property. (4) Cases related to revocation of the protection documents (disputes on termination of

exclusive rights).

First group disputes usually arise between the applicant (author or other individual who has submitted the application for a protection document) and Kyrgyzpatent which assesses protectability, makes decisions, maintains records and registers objects of industrial property and issues the protection document on behalf of the government. In the process of obtaining (formalising) the rights in the industrial property the applicant and the examination organ may disagree as to interpretation and applicability of certain arguments, norms, criteria and proofs. Usually these disagreements are resolved in the course of correspondence or vis-à-vis discussions between the expert and the applicant’s representative. There are instances, however, when they fail to achieve consensus and stand to their own viewpoints. In such cases the dispute is brought to Kyrgyzpatent Board of Appeal for review. Board of Appeal also reviews the contests by any interested person of the current system of protection of the object of industrial property, for example, about the repeal of some patent for invention. The Board’s primary task is to ensure protection of rights of applicants, holders of protection documents and the third parties protected by law through the administrative procedure. Should there be a disagreement with the decision of the Board of Appeal the applicant or the third party or their representative may bring the action to the court of proper jurisdiction. If the right in the object of industrial property rests in the person carrying out business activity, the disputes pertinent to the decision of the Board of Appeal must be reviewed by the commercial courts, or if otherwise – by the courts of general jurisdiction. The first group disputes also include disputes on: Authorship (co-authorship) of the objects of industrial property; Issuance of the protection document; Establishment of the patentee;

The second group disputes include the disputes on: Issuance of the compulsory license; Infringement of the exclusive right for use of the protected object of industrial property; Entering and performance of the license agreements for use of the protected object of

industrial property; The right of prior use; Payment of remuneration to the author of the object of industrial property.

The second group disputes are reviewed by the court with no requirement for their preliminary review by the Board of Appeal. The third group disputes are the most complicated in terms of determination of the fact of infringement, extent of infringement, determination of the extent of damages and payable compensatory amounts. These are, in particular, the disputes on infringement of the exclusive right for use of the protected object of industrial property and other property rights of the patentee in the invention. This type of disputes is specifically stipulated in the Civil Code, Patent Law and in the Criminal Code. The law provides for the alternative method of bringing and reviewing actions for these types of disputes. On the one hand, since usually a party to the right infringement dispute is a business entity, the dispute must be brought to the commercial court and the plaintiff must bring the action.

On the other hand, upon establishing the fact of commission of the crime provided by law, “the court, Public Prosecutor, investigator, and the investigation organ must within their jurisdiction bring the criminal prosecution, take all measures provided by law to establish the events of the crime, persons guilty of committing the crime and punish them”. This means that the case will be reviewed by the court of general jurisdiction. In which case, under the Criminal Code any person who has incurred material damage because of committed crime, i.e. because of infringement of exclusive IP right, may in the criminal proceedings bring a civil law suit against the accused or the persons bearing material liability for the actions of the accused and this lawsuit will be reviewed by the court concurrently with the criminal action. This alternative has to be admitted very needed. However, it implies additional complexities. For example, in the action on infringement of the exclusive rights of the IP owner, a person carrying out business activity, legal entity, and government may act as a defendant, whereas in criminal action only an individual or a group of individuals may act as the accused, i.e. the defendants are different. The fourth type disputes about revocation of protection documents, i.e. about termination of the exclusive right in the protected object of industrial property differ from other disputes about receipt of exclusive rights in that sense that the position of the defendant – the agency making the decision on granting protection – as a rule is supported by the interested party, the holder of these rights. In the rest of the cases, the proceedings of disputes about revocation of the protection documents are not principally different from the disputes on obtaining exclusive rights. 3. TRADEMARKS General The Law on trademarks, service marks and names of places of origin of goods has been effective since January 1998. The purpose of the law is to create a favourable regime, proper conditions and privileges for the owners of trademarks and to regulate property relations arising in connection with the creation, legal protection and use of trademarks, service marks and names of places of origin of goods. Trademarks The trademark and the service mark in the Kyrgyz legislation mean a conventional designation or original artistic depiction designed to differentiate similar goods and services of definite manufacturers from those of others. For the purposes of the trademark registered with Kyrgyzpatent there is issued a protection document, the certificate attesting the priority of the trademark, the exclusive right of the owner of the trademark in the goods specified in the certificate. The trademark certificate is valid during 10 years with the right of unlimited extension for the following 10 years. Trademark may be expressed by means of: words and word combinations; depictions, figures and symbols; letters, numbers, and their combination;

volumetric forms (three-dimensional objects, figures and combinations of lines, figures); combination of all above listed methods (combinations of elements of diverse

character, depictive, verbal, volumetric and others). Trademark may me registered in any colour or colour combination. Character of the goods for which the trademark is used may not be the impediment for trademark registration. The law is not applied to holographic signs, except visually observable, and to the signs not consisting of visual designations, in particular, to the sound and olfactory (smell) signs. Designations may not be registered as trademarks if they are identical or similar to the extent of confusion with: trademarks previously registered or submitted for registration in the name of other

persons with respect to similar commodities enjoying earlier priority; trademarks of other persons protected without registration by virtue of international

treaties of the Kyrgyz Republic; trademarks well-known throughout the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Criteria of

notoriety of a trademark are established by the regulation on well-known trademarks. Designations may not be registered as trademarks if they reproduce: whole or part of well-known within the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic firm names and

names of plant varieties owned by other persons who were granted the right to these names before the date of registration of application for trademark; names of well-known in the Kyrgyz Republic works of science, literature and art or

their fragments without the consent of the copyright holder or his legal successors; surnames, names, pseudonyms and their derivatives, portraits and facsimiles of

renowned persons without consent of such, their heirs, and the Government should these designations be the historical and cultural property of the Kyrgyz Republic; industrial designs the rights in which rest in other persons in the Kyrgyz Republic if the

industrial design enjoys earlier priority than the trademark seeking registration. Gained practice in application of the Trademark Law has shown uncertainty as to interpretation of the terms “names of well-known in the Kyrgyz Republic works…” and “surnames, names … of renowned persons” and the need to clearly name the authority whose consent is required for registration of the designations which might be the historical or cultural property of the Kyrgyz Republic. Uncertainty in interrelationships between trademark and name of drugs gives much room for speculations in the areas directly associated with health care. Analysis of this situation calls for co-operation between Kyrgyzpatent and the Department of drug provisioning and medicinal equipment of the Ministry of Health Care. The fact that the discussion refers to pharmaceutical products requiring interference of health care professionals fails to eliminate the risk of confusion. Names of the Place of Goods (Geographical Denomination of Origin) Names of the place of origin of goods means the name of the country, settlement, locality or other geographical object used for designation of the commodity, special features of which are exclusively or primarily determined by the typical for this geographical object natural conditions or human factors or by both. The historical name of the geographical object may be the name of the place of origin of goods. The designation is not recognised

as the name of the place of origin of goods if it contains the name of the geographical object but became generally used in the Kyrgyz Republic as the designation of the commodity of the definite kind, not associated with the place of its production. Certificate of the right to use the name of the place of origin of goods is valid during 10 years with the right of unlimited extension for the following 10 years. The validity period of the certificate may be extended given there is the statement of the competent authority confirming that the holder of the certificate is situated in the given geographic object and manufactures the goods with the features indicated in the certificates. Registration of the name of the place of origin of goods lasts perpetually and is passed on a voluntary basis. Until now, the name of the place of origin has been a poorly studied subject. So, the Paris Convention mentions this subject only once. Trademark law is the basic document regulating relations emerging in connection with registration, legal protection and use of the name of place of origin of goods. It has to be taken into account upon securing protection that name of the place of origin of goods is a very valuable and quite rare object which is confirmed by the international statistics. Legal phenomenon of the name of the place of origin of goods lies in that it itself contains the mandatory feature: the existence of special features in the commodity being marked. Upon registration of the object, the patent agency is authorised to check special features based on the statement of the competent authority. The name of the place of origin of goods represents a special variety of the indication of the origin of goods. Common in the notions is the use of the geographical object. In order to lift the question of competence of any agency as to protection of name of the place of origin of goods the Government by its decision (Resolution # 743 of November 28, 2001) imposed the powers to define and control special features, definite qualities and other characteristics of the goods on: • The Ministry of foreign trade and industry with respect to the goods of industrial and

technical purpose; • The Ministry of agriculture, water resources and processing industry with respect to

the agricultural outputs; • The Ministry of education and culture with respect to works of art and handicraft; • The Ministry of ecology and emergency, State Agency on registration of rights in the

immovable property and the State agency on geology and mineral resources with respect to determination of the borders of geographical places, with which special features, definite qualities or other characteristics of the commodity including that produced from the mineral roughage are associated;

• The Department of drug provisioning and medical equipment of the Ministry of Health Care with respect to medicinal herbs;

• The Ministry of Health Care with respect to natural mineral waters, salt, medicinal mud.

Government agencies must review the applications of legal entities and individuals and give their conclusions on the matters of special features and quality of the goods. By now Kyrgyzpatent has not developed any significant practice of reviewing applications for registration and granting the right of use of the name of the place of origin of goods and applications for granting the right of use of the registered name of the place of origin of goods.

The main reason for such provision is, in our opinion, the fact that the right of use of the name of the place of origin of goods has no exclusive character upon marking the similar goods as is the case with the trademark. In this regard, the internal market offers lots of goods of various companies under similar geographic name (for example, the mineral water). Firm Names (Trade Names) The practice of protection of names of natural products by registration of “names of place of origin of goods” has its specific peculiarities which causes difficulties for the organisations engaged in standardisation and assessment of quality characteristics. The Law on Firm Names (1999) regulates the relations emerging in connection with state registration, legal protection and use of firm names. State registration of the firm names is voluntary. Firm name is a stable, full or reduced name of the legal entity differentiating it from other legal entities and containing indication as to the organisational form of the legal entity and personal or common name with the differentiating meaning. One’s own name or full name may be used as the firm name. In the registered firm name of the legal entity based on the results of the examination the certificate is issued which attests its protectability, priority and exclusive right of the owner to the registered firm name. Certificate is issued by Kyrgyzpatent within 7 days after entering data in the registry. If legal protection of the firm name arises on the basis of its being generally known due to its earlier and longer use the exclusive right arises from the moment of decision by the Board of Appeal, and in case it was appealed in court - by the moment of court decision. Firm name may not be the subject of the purchase and sale, donation, lease contract. Upon sale of the enterprise firm name may be appraised separately and sold together with the enterprise immediately or under the condition that it will be terminated after a definite period. The exclusive right of the legal entity to the firm name may be transferred to other legal entity in succession only given the arrangements are in place to prevent misrepresentation to a consumer. With the purpose of creating the system of interaction aimed at exchange of data between the Ministry of Justice responsible for state registration of legal entities and Kyrgyzpatent, they have agreed on the special procedure of interaction. The data is exchanged every 10 days by transfer of data on the electronic carriers. Well-Known Trademarks As the review of court practice has shown there is no more challenging and urging problem in the legislation on protection of IP than the protection of well-known marks some of which have reached such degree of notoriety that they are perceived as the national symbols. Currently, the legal infrastructure regulating the matters associated with the status of well-known trademarks consists of the Law on trademarks (1998) and the Regulation on well-known trademarks (2000) developed in pursuance of the requirements of the Paris Convention on protection of industrial property and the Treaty on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to which the Kyrgyz Republic is a party.

The trademark is deemed well-known if it became known in the territory of one country due to continuous application. This brand is granted protection by virtue of the fact of its notoriety without mandatory registration even in the countries where it serves as the condition for emergence of the right. Regulation of protection of well-known brands is based on the legislation on unfair competition as well as the court practice. As for the Trademark law: point 1 of article 3 of the law contains the following wording “The trademark in the

Kyrgyz Republic shall be granted legal protection on the basis of its state registration … or by virtue of international treaties”; point 3 of part 3 of article 4 – “Registration as trademarks or their elements shall not

be allowed if they are false or misleading a consumer as to the commodity or its manufacturer”; point 2 of part 1 of article 5 – “Designations identical or similar to the extent of

confusion to the trademarks of other persons protected without registration by virtue of international treaties may not be registered as trademarks”.

Reference in the indicated articles of the law to the international treaties of the Kyrgyz Republic implies in particular the provisions of Article 6bis of the Paris Convention. Activity of other firms on the use of the world brands and their commercial advantages for their goods may be treated as the unfair competition. That is why trademarks enjoy the protection regime granted in the framework of prevention of unfair competition. It should be noted that usually the actual application of the trademark and its commercial promotion is implied as violation. The trademark used in such a way represents reproduction of the already protected designation. Depending on the extent of reproduction there are such forms of illegal use as counterfeit (forgery) and imitation. The Board of Appeal is the government agency responsible for review of applications for recognition of trademarks well-known, making decisions on recognition of trademarks well-known and review of disputes regarding well-known trademarks. Well-known trademark is protected not only with respect to the goods due to which the trademark has gained notoriety, but also with respect to all goods. Trademark is recognised well-known, given that it meets the criteria of notoriety and is entered in the Registry of well-known trademarks. Criteria of notoriety of trademarks are as follows: Cognisance by the consumers in which case the perception about the quality level of

the goods must be associated with the trademark in the country or the world market; High differentiating ability originally inherent or acquired in the course of intensive use; Wide use and advertising of the trademark in the territory of the Republic and in the

world market; Commercial value in the result of continuous and intensive use in the republic and in

the world market. In which case it should be taken into account that the Board of Appeal upon making the decision may consider other criteria, i.e. the Regulation sets non-exhaustive list of criteria. Trademarks recognised well-known and colliding with the conflicting trademarks (if whole or substantial part thereof represents the reproduction, imitation, translation or transliteration of the well-known trademark, and may cause confusion if this trademark or its substantial part is used, seek registration or registered with respect to the goods which

are identical or similar to the goods for which the trademark is applied), firm name or domain names enjoy priority legal protection from the moment of attaining by the trademark of the status of the well-known. Notwithstanding the fact that the trademark of the goods is used, whether the application is pending registration or registered, this trademark is deemed conflicting with the well-known trademark, if the whole or substantial part thereof represents reproduction, imitation, translation or transliteration of the well-known trademark. The attempts of the practical application of this Regulation as it has been earlier mentioned caused much criticism on the part of the owners of well-known trademarks. Kyrgyzpatent is working on improvement of the Regulation and brining it into compliance with the international standards. Legal Protection of Trademarks Legal protection of trademark and name of the place of origin of goods is granted on the basis of state registration or by virtue of the Paris Convention. In the event of collision between the firm name and the trademark containing similar designation the Law on protection of consumers’ right (1997) is applied. It should be made clear that there is certain correlation between the right to firm name and the right to trademark, since one and the same designation may concurrently or separately obtain legal protection as a trademark and as a firm name. Compared rights are similar in that sense that they both are related to the industrial property. But they differ in terms of creation and termination, scope and concrete content of the respective subjective right. Firm name of foreign legal entities is protected without registration given it is used and known on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Criteria of notoriety of firm names are established by the Government. Foreign legal entity may register its firm name. In case of a dispute regarding firm name between the foreign legal entity and the Kyrgyz legal entity the priority of use and notoriety of the firm name of the foreign legal entity in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic is taken into account. The disputes are reviewed by the Board of Appeals, in case of disagreement with its decision the parties may appeal from it in court. Priority date of the firm name is determined based on the date of submission of the application for registration of the firm name to Kyrgyzpatent. Where the firm name is known due to its earlier and longer use on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, priority may be established by decision of the Board of Appeal in case it was not appealed in court or by decision of the court based on the date of initial use. Protection of the Firm Name Legal protection of the firm name is granted on the basis of: 1) state registration; 2) decision of the Board of Appeal on the ground of notoriety and recognition of the firm name by virtue of its earlier, longer and more intensive use in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic in case if it was not appealed in court; 3) court decision. Infringement of the exclusive rights of the legal entity in the protected firm name includes use of the identical or similar firm name in the activity of other legal entity without the consent of the right holder. Upon infringement of the exclusive right in the firm name, the offender is imposed with the civil, administrative or criminal liability. Use of the firm name means: making transactions, introducing the product into economic turnover, making financial

operations, bringing lawsuits to the court under this firm name;

reproduction of the firm name on official letterheads, seals, stamps and other documentation associated with the activity of the legal entity; reflection of the firm name in the signboard pointing to the place of location of the

legal entity; application of the firm name as the element of the trademark on the product facilitating

its location and identification by the consumer; application of the firm name in the advertisement, at fairs and exhibitions upon

demonstration of exhibits manufactured by the owner. Firm name may be used as a composite part of designations of the trademark, service mark, may fully coincide with the said designations, may be the part of one or several designations being registered and owned by one and the same person. Any interested legal entity may file objection against registration of the firm name with the Board of Appeal during the entire period of validity of registration. The decision of the Board of Appeal may be appealed from in court by the applicant within 6 months after the date of the decision. Disputes connected with violation of the legislation on firm names are reviewed by court. The law on firm names currently raises many questions and is criticised as its adoption has set confusion between the trademarks and the firm names. Application of this law caused additional difficulties in that part that by the time the law was put into effect the big number of names had been already registered in the Registry of the Ministry of Justice which contradicted the Law. Existence of this law could have been justified by the principle of “one-stop shopping” when registration of legal entities and their firm names is made by one and the same agency. Protection of Trademarks An owner of the trademark enjoys the exclusive right to use and dispose of the trademark and to forbid its use by the third parties. No one may use the trademark without permission of its owner. Disputes reviewed by courts include the disputes about: Infringement of the exclusive right to the trademark; Entering into and performance of the licensing agreement and the agreement on

cession of the trademark; Illegal use of the name of the place of origin of goods; Non-use of the trademark.

Liability for Illegal Use of Trademark Use of the trademark and name of the place of origin of goods or designation for homogenous goods similar to the trademark or name of the place of origin of goods contradicting the law entails civil, administrative or criminal liability. Civil remedies sought in case of illegal use of the trademark along with the claims to discontinue infringement or recovery of inflicted damages include also: publication of the court decision with the aim to restore business reputation of the

injured party; removal from the commodity or its package of the illegally used trademark or

designation similar to it to the extent of confusion and (or) destruction of depictions of the trademark or designation similar to it to the extend of confusion;

attachment or destruction of the goods with the illegally used trademark. The person repeatedly using someone’s trademark, service mark, firm name, name of the place of origin of goods and having inflicted severe damage is punished by fine, public works, or arrest. The person bears criminal liability for using the warning marks for unregistered trademark, service mark, or name of the place of origin of goods, repeated violations and infliction of severe damage. Sanctions imposed for such kind of legal offense includes fine, compulsory public works or arrest. Severe damage means the damage exceeding 500 minimal monthly salary established by legislation as of the moment of offense (about US $2). The person illegally using registered name of the place of origin of goods or similar designation, upon request of the holder of the right to use of the place of origin of goods, public organisation, government agency or Public Prosecutor must: discontinue its use, pay all injured persons damages, and transfer to the budget the

proceeds from illegal use of the name of place of origin of goods in excess of the paid damages; publish court decision with the aim to restore business reputation of the injured party; remove from the commodity or its package the illegally used name of the place of

origin of goods or designation similar to it to the extent of confusion or destroy the made depictions of the name of the place of origin of goods or designation similar to it to the extent of confusion.

Use of the Trademark and the Legal Effects of its Non-use Use of the trademark means application thereof on goods, for which the trademark is registered and/or their package by the owner of the trademark or the person who has been granted such right on the basis of the licensing agreement. Application of the trademark in the advertisement, printed editions, official letterheads, signboards, upon demonstration of samples at the exhibitions and fairs, held in the Kyrgyz Republic, may also be deemed the use, given there are valid reasons shown for non-application of the trademark on goods or their packages. Legal entities and individuals engaged in mediation, may use their trademark along with the trademark of the manufacturer of the goods, and instead of the trademark of the latter on the basis of the agreement. Validity period of the registration of the trademark may be terminated prematurely fully or partially on the basis of the court decision made at the petition of any person in connection with the non-use of the trademark continuously during any 3 years from the date of registration or three years preceding submission of such petition. Upon settlement of the matter on the premature termination of the registration of the trademark in connection with its non-use the arguments may be taken into account provided by the owner of the trademark and proving that non-use occurred due to the circumstances beyond his control, including restrictions imposed by the government on the goods for which the trademark was registered. Cession of the Trademark

The trademark may be ceded by its owner to the legal entity or individual under the agreement, both with the whole or part of the respective production facilities, and without them for all or part of the goods for which it was registered. Cession of the trademark under the agreement is not allowed if it may cause misrepresentation to the consumer as to the commodity, its quality and manufacturer. Collective trademarks (for associations or groups of companies) may not be ceded to other persons. Granting of Licenses for Use of the Trademark The right to use of the trademark may be granted by the owner of the trademark to other person under the license agreement with respect to one, several or all goods, for which the trademark is registered. License agreement must contain the provision that the quality of the licensee’s goods must be no lower than the quality of the licensor’s goods and that the licensor will exercise control over performance of this provision. The agreement on cession of the trademark and the license agreement are registered with Kyrgyzpatent and come into force from the date of their registration without which they are deemed not valid. For registration of the agreement the fee is paid. Invalidation of Registration of the Trademark Registration of trademark may be fully or partially invalidated during the entire period of its validity if it was made with violation of the requirements of the law or during 5 years. Any person may file objection against registration of the trademark with the Board of Appeal, which must be reviewed within 4 months. In case of disagreement the applicant may appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeal within 6 months. Revocation of Registration of the Trademark Registration of the trademark is revoked by Kyrgyzpatent on the following grounds: termination of its validity period; decision of the court on premature termination for the reason of using collective

trademark on the goods having no uniform qualitative or other general characteristics; decision of the court on premature termination for non-use; invalidation; liquidation of the legal entity or discontinuance of the business activity of an individual

owner of the trademark without creation of the legal successor; decision of the court in case of transformation of the trademark into designation which

became generally used as designation of goods of a certain kind; waiver by the owner of the trademark.

Independent Protection of Trademarks The owner of the trademark may claim discontinuance of use by the third party of the identical mark for homogenous goods or services. In which case the burden of proof will be on the plaintiff, i.e. on the owner of the trademark himself. Under current legislation, the owner of the brand may not prevent use by the third party of the identical or similar brand for non-homogenous goods. 4. COPYRIGHT General

Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (1998) is designed to regulate relations emerging in connection with the creation and use of the works of science, literature, and art (copyright), phonograms, performances, staging, programs of organisations of air or cable broadcasting (neighbouring rights). Obtaining of Copyright Protection Copyright extends to the works being the results of the creative activity and expressed in the objective form. Copyright extends to: works, promulgated or not promulgated, but existing in any objective form in the

territory of the Kyrgyz Republic irrespective of the citizenship of authors or their legal successors; works promulgated or not promulgated but existing in any objective form outside the

Kyrgyz Republic and enjoyed by the authors citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic and their legal successors; works promulgated or not promulgated but existing in any objective form outside the

Kyrgyz Republic and enjoyed by the authors (their legal successors) citizens of other states in accordance with the international treaties of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Neighbouring rights extend to performances, phonograms, transmitted programs of organisations of air and cable broadcasting irrespective of their purpose, content and merit, as well as the method and form of their expression. The performer enjoys the rights if the performer is the citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic; performance has taken place for the first time in the Kyrgyz Republic; performance is recorded to phonogram, protected in accordance with the Law on

Copyright and Neighbouring Rights; performance not recorded to phonogram is included in the air or cable transmission

protected in accordance with Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights. The phonogram producer enjoys the rights if: phonogram producer is the citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic or legal entity having official

place of business on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic; phonogram was published for the first time in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The organisation of air or cable broadcasting enjoys the rights if the organisation has official place of business on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and broadcasts with the help of transmitters located in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Rights of foreign performers, phonogram producers and organisations of air and cable broadcasting are recognised on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic in accordance with the international treaties of the Kyrgyz Republic. Copyright Protection An author enjoys the following personal non-property rights with respect to his works: Right of authorship means the right to be recognised the author of the work; Right of name means the right to use or permit usage of works under true name of the

author, pseudonym, or without indication of name, i.e. anonymously; Right of promulgation means the right to promulgate or permit promulgation of the

work in any form including the right to withdraw;

Right of inviolability of the work means the right to protection of the work, including its name from any distortion or other encroachment able to harm honour and dignity of the author.

Personal non-property rights are enjoyable by the author irrespective of his property rights and retained by him in case of cession of the exclusive rights to use the work. The author enjoys the exclusive right to use his works in any form and any way. Exclusive rights of the author to use the work mean the right to commit, permit or forbid the following actions: Reproduce the work (right to reproduction); Distribute copies of the work in any way: rent out, etc. (right to distribution); Import copies of the work with the purposes of distribution, including copies made with

the permission of the holder of exclusive copyrights (right to import); Publicly demonstrate the work (right to public demonstration); Publicly perform the work (right to public performance); Communicate the work for general observation by airing or (and) subsequent airing

(right to air broadcasting); Communicate the work for general observation by cable, wires or with the help of

other similar means (right to cable broadcasting). Translate the work (right to translation); Remake, arrange, or otherwise process the work (right to processing).

If copies of the lawfully published work were introduced into civil turnover by their sale, their further distribution is allowed without the author’s consent and payment of the author’s remuneration. The right to distribute original or copies of the work by renting out audio-visual work, computer software, database, work fixed in the phonogram, musical work in the form of musical notation rests in the author regardless of the right of ownership of these copies. The law sets restrictions on the rights of authors provided that such use inflicts no unjustified damage to the normal use of the work and makes no unjustified harm to the legal interests of the author, such as: Reproduction of a single copy of the lawfully promulgated work exclusively in personal

purposes; Obligatory indication of the name of author whose work is being used, and the source

of borrowing; Obligatory indication of the name of the author whose works are being used and the

sources of borrowing, reproduction in a single copy without generating profit; Air broadcasting or communication for general observation by cable of works of

architecture, photography, painting which are permanently located in the place open for free attendance.

In case when depiction of the work is the main subject of reproduction, air broadcasting, or communication for general observation by cable or use of the depiction of the work for commercial purposes is the infringement on the author’s right. Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Infringement of the copyright and neighbouring rights entails civil, criminal and administrative liability. The holders of exclusive author’s rights and neighbouring rights

may seek legal remedies in the established manner in court, commercial court, commercial arbitration, investigation agency, preliminary investigation agencies, within the scope of their jurisdiction. Legal remedies for infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights are warranted by the court through: recognition of rights; restitution of state of affairs existing before infringement;

suppression of actions infringing the right or threatening with its infringement; payment of damages, recovery of revenues received by the offender in the result of

infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights instead of payment of damages; payment of reimbursement in the amount of 20 to 50000 minimal salaries, established

by legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic determined by the court, instead of payment of damages or recovery of revenues.

In which case the measures provided in the last three points are applied on choice of the holder of copyright and neighbouring rights. Counterfeited copies of the works or phonograms are subject to mandatory confiscation by decision of the court or judge as well as by decision of the commercial court. Confiscated counterfeited copies of works or phonograms are subject to destruction except when they are transferred to the holder of copyright or neighbouring rights upon his request. Court or sole judge as well as commercial court may decide on confiscation of materials and equipment used for production and reproduction of counterfeited copies of works or phonograms. The person guilty of intentional destruction or destruction by negligence of the original work of art, manuscript or final version of the audio-visual work (negative, original record) upon request of the author or holder of neighbouring rights must pay indemnity for inflicted material and moral harm. Methods of Securing the Claim Court or sole judge as well as commercial court may issue a determination on forbidding the defendant or the person who may be assumed perpetrator of copyright and neighboring rights and there are sufficient grounds to think so, to commit certain actions (production, reproduction, sale, rent, import or other use provided by this Law as well as carriage, storage, or possession with the purpose of issue into civil turnover of the copies of works and phonograms which are assumed to be counterfeited). Court or sole judge may issue a determination on imposing attachment and taking of all copies of the works and phonograms which are assumed to be counterfeited, as well as the materials and equipment, designed for their production and reproduction. In presence of sufficient data about infringement of copyright or neighbouring rights the investigation agency, investigator, court or sole judge must take measures for search and arrest of copies of works or phonograms which are supposed to be counterfeited, materials and equipment designed for production and reproduction of the said copies of works or phonograms, as well as documents which may serve as a proof of commission of actions violating the Law on copyright, including their taking and transfer for bailment when necessary. As it has been already mentioned before, absence of specialised courts and trained judiciary in the courts of general jurisdiction and commercial courts is a critical problem of author’s rights protection.

If the decision of the court of trial fails to satisfy the holder of violated rights, he has the right to file appeal from the decision of the court of trial and the complaint to the Supreme Court with the purpose of exercising the supervisory authority for review of court decisions which came into legal force (the decision of the Supreme Court is final and not subject to appeal). Terms of Procedure Case in civil proceeding must be reviewed and the decision must be made within the period not exceeding 2 months. Case in commercial proceeding must be reviewed and the decision must be made within 1 month. Criminal action must be reviewed and the decision thereon must be made within 1 month. Administrative actions must be reviewed and the decision thereon must be made within 10 days after receipt of records by the judge. 5. UNFAIR COMPETITION Main law regulating organisational and legal basis for development of competition as well as measures on prevention, restriction and suppression of unfair competition is the Law on restriction of monopolistic activity, development and protection of competition of 1994. Responsibility for pursuance of state policy on prevention of unfair competition is on the State Commission on Antitrust Policy of the Kyrgyz Government. The law on antitrust activity is effective on the entire territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and extends to all business entities, government agencies and officials. The law makes no difference between the national and foreign producers, i.e. its effect extends both to national and foreign producers. Relations connected with development of competition in the commodity markets of the Kyrgyz Republic and restriction of the monopolistic activity are regulated by this Law subject to international economic treaties and respective acts of international organisations to which the Kyrgyz Republic is the party. The law makes no allowance for unfair competition, including: dissemination of false, inaccurate data (misrepresentation) able to harm business

reputation of other business entity; misrepresentation to the consumers as to the character, method and place of

production, features, suitability for application or quality of the goods; unauthorised use of the trademark, firm name, or marking of the good, unauthorised

duplication of the form, package, external design of the goods of other business entities; advertisement of the goods not meeting the quality requirements; unauthorised use or disclosure of confidential scientific, technical, production or trade-

related information. The Administrative Code contains a special chapter dedicated to legal offences associated with the facts of unfair competition. Unfair competition means dissemination of false or inaccurate data which may harm business reputation of the business entity, misrepresentation the consumers as to the character, method and place of production, features, applicability or quality of the goods, unauthorised use of trademark, firm name or disclosure of confidential information. Administrative fine is the sanction for such offences.

In addition, the Administrative Code specifies as a violation the use of false advertisement (dissemination of information known to be false regarding production or sale of goods/services, misleading advertisement, which gives untrue data), which also entails imposition of the administrative fine. Competent bodies Depending on the place where a legal offence has been committed, the cases may be reviewed by the territorial units of antitrust agency, court, law enforcement bodies, and public prosecutor’s office. Legislation provides for involvement of the above bodies both at the application of the right holder and based on the results of inspections by the competent bodies except legal proceedings and securing protection by customs bodies which are initiated only at the suit of the right holder. State commission on antitrust policy may make decision within its jurisdiction on imposition of fines and economic sanctions on business entities for violation of legislation on unfair competition. Commission may furnish to the law enforcement bodies the records for settlement of the matters on initiation of criminal proceedings on crimes connected with violation of legislation. This mechanism is not currently applied in practice (there is no precedent known). State commission on antitrust policy must react to the statements of individuals and legal entities about the facts of unfair competition, complete the protocol and on its basis bring the action in the administrative proceeding. Then it may impose the fine on the business entity for actions associated with unfair practices and on officials of these business entities. Also the commercial court may recover income received by business entities in the result of violation of the law to the revenue of the republican budget at the suit of the state antitrust agency. Legal remedies Violated or contested civil rights may be protected in court of proper jurisdiction as established by civil procedural legislation or the contract (pre-trial settlement of dispute). Civil rights may be protected in the administrative procedure only in cases directly provided by legislation. Decision adopted by the competent agency in the administrative procedure may be appealed in court. Legal remedies for infringement of exclusive rights to the object of intellectual property include the following: Taking of tangible objects which helped to infringe the exclusive rights and tangible

objects created in the result of such infringement; Obligatory publication of the information about infringement and indication of the data

about the person who is the holder of the infringed right. Terms of Procedures for Case Reviews The time period for review of actions in civil, commercial, criminal and administrative proceedings is the same for all types of cases. Exception is the extension of the period for review of the cases at the judges’ discretion. 6. TRADE SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

The matters connected with determination of legal principles of commercial secret protection in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic are regulated by the Civil Code (1998) and the Law on Commercial Secret (1998) the purpose of which is to protect commercial secret and to prevent unfair competition in the economic activity. Civil legislation protects information constituting official or commercial secret if this information has actual or potential commercial value by virtue of its being unknown to the third parties, there is no free access to it on legal grounds and the holder of information takes measures to protect its confidentiality. The persons who obtained this information by illegal methods, as well as employees - in spite of the employment contract or counteragents - in spite of civil law agreement - who disclosed the official or commercial secret must pay the damages inflicted. In the event of disclosure of data constituting commercial secret inflicted damages are paid by the government antitrust agency in the manner prescribed by legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic. In accordance with the law all data constituting commercial secret, received by the authorised government agency upon examination, is not subject to disclosure. At the same time, the existence of the commercial secret in the information may not serve as a ground for refusal to provide it by the antitrust agency. In which case the applicants and other interested parties upon provision of information must state an exhaustive list of data constituting commercial secret (except the data which under the legislation may not be a commercial secret). Liability for Violations Violation against the regime of protection of commercial secret and confidential information may entail liability both under the Civil and Administrative Code and under the Criminal Code. Thus, under the Law on commercial secret transfer of data constituting commercial secret to the third parties entails disciplinary, material, administrative and criminal liability, provided that the data was kept by the business entity in secret, was entrusted to the disclosure in the established manner without permission for disclosure, or the data was received by other illegal method and such disclosure inflicted damages. The law establishes that the employees of the business entity, government agencies, as well as persons who illegally received the data constituting commercial secret or took possession thereof must pay the damages inflicted to the business entity. The data constituting the commercial secret which was received by the antitrust agency is not subject to disclosure. In case of disclosure of the data constituting commercial secret inflicted damages must be paid by the antitrust agency in the manner prescribed by legislation. Agreement on Limitation of the Right to Use Information The law on commercial secret provides for the possibility of the agreement between the employer and the employee, which limits the use of confidential information. Usually such kinds of liabilities are formalised in writing upon entering into employment contract or in the process of its implementation. In case of entering the agreement the employees having access to the data constituting commercial secret must: keep commercial secret which they will learn in the course of their work, and not

disclose it without permission given in the prescribed manner, provided that the data

constituting commercial secret was not known to them before or was not received by them from the third party without the obligation to keep it confidential;

comply with the requirements of instructions, regulations, orders on ensuring safety of the commercial secret;

not use knowledge of commercial secret for carrying out activity which as an act of competition may cause harm to the business entity;

in case of release from office transfer all carriers of information in their disposal constituting commercial secret.

Access to Commercial Secret Access to commercial secret is provided to the employees as determined by the entrepreneur. State control and law enforcement agencies in compliance with the powers vested in them by the legislation on control and supervision, have the right within their competence on the basis of the written request to review the data constituting the commercial secret. Seizure of the documents containing commercial secret is performed only with the permission of the Public Prosecutor. Officials bear liability provided by legislation for disclosure of the data constituting commercial secret. The Extent of Review of Commercial Secret in Court, Commercial Court In the course of legal proceedings, the court, commercial court and the third parties may review the objects of commercial secret only in the part directly related to the subject matter of the dispute where the business entity acts as plaintiff or defendant. Unlimited access to the books of record and other commercial documents is permitted for the court or commercial court in cases of: a) bringing the action on bankruptcy and liquidation of the business entity; b) disputes on succession or division of property of spouses; c) disputes among the owners of the business entity. 7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM Exercise of IP rights Kyrgyz legislation provides for the following legal remedies of IP rights protection: civil, criminal, administrative and customs. Depending on the nature of violation the holder of IP rights may seek for the said remedies. IP rights remedies are specific and include emergency measures to prevent violations and deter from further violations. They are based on the principles of equality before law and court of all participants of the process. The court must make its decision only on the basis of that evidence, which was examined at the court hearing. The parties are provided with the opportunity to have the decisions revised: the right to file appeal from the decision of the court of trial and the complaint in the exercise of the supervisory authority for revision of the court decisions which came into legal force. Civil Remedies The right holders are provided with the opportunity to file the statement of claim (action) with the court. In accordance with the specifics of the category of cases on IP rights protection they are reviewed by the commercial courts. The procedural legislation provides for the detailed list of rights and obligations of persons participating in the case, in particular, the parties may review the records, provide proofs and arguments, appeal

from the court decision. The legislation on commercial procedure provides for the possibility to review the case in closed hearing to keep information in secret. Depending on the subject matter of the action the right holder seeks legal remedies provided by the Civil Code. All these legal remedies may be applied upon review of the matters of non-contractual infringement of rights. It has to be noted also, that the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring rights provides for recovery of the income and not the net profit received in the result of infringement. At the same time, the offender has to receive such income in the result of infringement of copyrights and neighbouring rights and not in the result of lawful actions. For example, if the book is published which contains two works, where one is counterfeited and another is not, only the respective portion of the income received from sale of the book may be recovered from the offender. In other words, each right holder may claim only that portion of income of the offender which is due to him. In addition, the Copyright Law provides that the holder of exclusive rights may claim compensation in fixed amount instead of recovery of his damages or income received by the offender. The size of this compensation is established by the court within the limits of 20 to 50 thousand minimal salaries (from 40 to 100 thousand US dollars). Since the said compensation may be recovered instead of damages, it should be assumed that the court must determine its size in accordance with the estimated amount of damages. Furthermore, in absence of damages this compensation may not be awarded. The possibility to claim compensation significantly strengthens and facilitates the legal position of the holders of exclusive rights: they are not required to provide a document to confirm the size of their losses. The losses must be present to have the compensation awarded. But they may not be assessed approximately. The size of compensation must not depend on the degree of guilt of the offender and on the social significance of the committed offence. It is obvious that payment of compensation will find wide practical application. The Copyright law establishes that such remedies as payment of damages, recovery of income, and payment of compensation are applied at choice of the holder of exclusive rights. The choice is usually made at the stage of filing the lawsuit. However, in the course of judicial proceeding of the dispute the plaintiff may change the ground underlying the suit. The law fails to provide for accumulation of various claims. For the cases of infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights the Copyright Law provides for specific legal remedies for such categories of cases. The court or judge may forbid the defendant or the person on sufficient grounds assumed to have infringed the copyright and neighbouring rights, to commit definite actions (production, reproduction, sale, rent, import or other use, as well as carriage, storage or possession for the purpose of introduction into civil turnover of the copies of works and phonograms which assumed to be counterfeited). Claim Securing (Court Injunction) Commercial court at the suit of the party may take measures to secure the claim at any stage of commercial process if failure to take such measures may make enforcement of the judicial act difficult or impossible.

Application for claim securing is reviewed by the commercial court resolving the dispute, not later than the following day after its receipt. Court order to secure claim is enforced immediately. Order for secure claim may be reversed by the commercial court reviewing the case on motion of the person participating in the case. The matter on reversal of the claim securing is settled at the court hearing. The defendant, after the decision on dismissal of the claim takes legal force, may claim from the plaintiff payment of damages inflicted thereto by the claim securing measures, by bringing the action to the same commercial court. Court injunction against certain actions may be issued either to the defendant or other person by virtue of sufficient grounds assumed to have infringed the copyright or neighbouring rights. As a matter of fact, this qualifying feature must be applied to the defendant: injunction to commit certain actions must not be applied in those cases when the claim is insufficiently justified. In civil cases, injunction may not be issued prior to submission of the statement of claim. The court may order attachment and taking of all copies of works and phonograms which are assumed to be counterfeited as well as materials and equipment designed for their production or reproduction. Attachment may be imposed on: copies of the works and phonograms, which are assumed to be counterfeited; materials and equipment which are designed for production and reproduction of the

said copies. To attach the above materials and equipment it is not required that they are actually used for presumably counterfeited goods. The Copyright law says about attachment and taking of the above object. “Taking” means attachment with transfer of the indicated objects to the third party (for example, to the plaintiff) for bailment; in which case the presumed offender retains the ownership right. “Attachment” without “taking” is also possible, when for example the offender continues to keep the said objects, but "under lock and seal" of the court. The above measures to secure civil law claims (injunction, attachment and taking) are applied in accordance with the general rules of securing claims provided by the Civil Procedure and Commercial Procedure Codes. Measures to secure claims may be applied also in cases of infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights though they are not directly mentioned in article 50 of the Copyright Law. If there is sufficient data about infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights the investigation agency, court or sole judge must take measures for search and attachment of copies of works or phonograms assumed counterfeited, materials and equipment designed for production and reproduction of the said copies of works and phonograms as

well as documents which may serve as a proof of actions infringing the copyright and neighbouring rights including measures on taking and transfer for bailment when necessary. This measure is referred to the cases when the sanctions under administrative or criminal law are applied or proposed to be applied to the offenders of the copyright or neighbouring rights. The law also determines the destiny of confiscated counterfeited copies: they are subject to destruction, however, the holder of copyright and neighbouring rights may claim that these copies are transferred to him. It should be assumed that the holder of exclusive rights demands transfer to his ownership of the copies of the works or phonograms for subsequent use. Therefore, such claim is proprietary and subject to pecuniary appraisal. If the holder of copyright is awarded damages (or their equivalent – income received by the offender, or their compensation in firm currency) the cost of counterfeited copies must be included in the amount of damages. The court may order confiscation of materials and equipment used for production or reproduction of counterfeited copies of works or phonograms. The word “used” may be understood in two ways: either in the meaning “actually used” or in the meaning of “those which may be used in principle”. As the court practice shows, in this context only those objects are meant which were actually used for making or reproduction of counterfeited copies. The Copyright law interprets this nuance differently: Art. 50 (2) mentions materials and equipment “designed” for making and reproduction of counterfeited copies, i.e. those objects, which may be used for illegal activities. Materials and equipment used for making or reproduction of counterfeited copies are not transferred to the ownership of the holder of copyright and neighbouring rights. He may not demand their destruction. It should be kept in mind, that the defendant to whom the right securing measures were applied in bad faith, is entitled to the respective reimbursement of losses and costs. The Procedure of Destruction of Counterfeited Products Destruction of the counterfeited products takes place after the verdict or court order comes into legal force and is performed by the court marshal in presence of the special commission composed of the representatives of agencies, which conducted investigation or preliminary investigation. After completion of the procedure the fact of destruction of counterfeited product is attested by the members of the commission in the special act. Counterfeited products are destroyed in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on enforcement of judicial acts (court marshals). Supervision over observance of laws during activities directed at finding, prevention, suppression and revealing legal offences and crimes associated with duplication and circulation of counterfeited products is exercised by the bodies of the Public Prosecutor’s office. Criminal Remedies The Criminal Code contains two provisions, which set the liability for infringement of intellectual property rights. Criminal liability ensues upon intentional use of intellectual property objects with commercial purposes. Article 150 of the Criminal Code provides for liability for infringement of copyrights and neighbouring rights and patentee’s rights. This article consists of three paragraphs two

last of which contain qualifying features, sanctions of which provide for deprivation of liberty for a term of 3 to 5 years. Article 191 of the Criminal Code sets liability for illegal use of the trademark. Sanction imposed by the article includes fine, public works and arrest for a term of up to 4 months. Upon conducting investigative actions by the organs of preliminary investigation, and court review of the said cases as well as upon case review in the civil and commercial proceedings the following remedies are applied: attachment, taking and destruction of counterfeited goods, as well as materials and equipment designed for making such goods. In addition, in the framework of criminal proceedings, the interested party may bring the civil action for damages, which will be reviewed concurrently. Administrative remedies Part of legal offenses is qualified by a separate chapter 25 of the Administrative Code “Administrative Offenses Infringing Intellectual Property”. The competent agency reviewing administrative offenses in the field of Intellectual property is the court (or judges). Administrative sanctions on the subject matter of the case correspond the principles stated in the civil legislation, i.e. attachment, taking and destruction of counterfeited goods. Administrative agency for pre-trial settlement of disputes on intellectual property rights is the Board of Appeal of Kyrgyzpatent. Board of Appeal reviews disputes in cases provided by Trademark law, Patent law, and Plant Variety Protection law. Dispute review in the Board of Appeal with participation of interested parties enables fast fixing of the possible errors, made by examination upon review of applications; settlement in the administrative procedure of the main bulk of disputes and conflicts in the part subject to the jurisdiction of the patent agency; development of uniform methodological approaches and improvement of examination practices. Eventually, if the parties are dissatisfied with the decision of the agency, it is possible to contest it in court. Agency review of disputes allows to evade the vast majority of litigation on such disputes. Cases of administrative offenses against intellectual property are reviewed by the raion, city courts. The action is deemed brought, and the proceeding is deemed started from the moment of completing the protocol of administrative offense. If upon review of the administrative action the court comes to the conclusion that the offense contains the features of the criminal offense it transfers the records to the Public Prosecutor’s Office or police department of proper jurisdiction. The case is reviewed for 10 days after the judge receives the protocol of administrative offence and other records. If there are motions of the participants of proceedings or additional establishment of the circumstances of the case is necessary, the period may be extended by the judge, but not more than 1 month. If upon settlement of the matter of administrative sanctions the court (judge) simultaneously decides the issue of payment of damages by the guilty party, the resolution on the case must indicate the size of the damage to be recovered, term and procedure of its payment. The order of the judge may be appealed to the higher court within 10 days after making the decision. Revision in the exercise of the supervisory authority of the order in force regarding the cases of administrative offenses is allowed at complaints of the affected

person, the injured party, as well as at the statements of the Public Prosecutor or judge within 3 months after it comes into legal force. In this case the action will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Customs Remedies Customs remedies in general are specified in Articles 28-31 of the Customs Code. Customs regime with respect to intellectual property rights provides for the following marginal remedies: request for suspension of goods release by customs bodies, claim of security or equivalent guarantee, notice to the importer or applicant, duration of suspension of indemnification to the importer and owner of the goods, entitlement of the right holder to inspection of the goods and information related to the importer and quantity of goods, taking or destruction of counterfeited goods. In 2000, the Government by its resolution approved the new procedure of customs control over the goods, containing intellectual property objects. Pursuant to the new procedure, customs bodies must exercise protection of rights of the right holder to the objects of intellectual property if such are included in the special registry of the customs inspectorate. To have the IP object registered with the customs agency the right holder must submit the application and the protection document attesting the right in the IP object. After which the right holder must enter into the agreement with the customs agency on reimbursement of costs of the customs agencies in case the right holder within certain period after detention of the suspected goods, fails to present the documentary evidence proving that he has filed the application with the court for decision of the further destiny of the detained goods or losses of the declarant (importer) (in case the court finds that the detained goods are not counterfeited). If the object is put on the registry the information sheet containing the data necessary for identification of the object of intellectual property (description of original goods, containing the object of intellectual property, and where necessary sample or photo, or other data giving full impression about the appearance of the goods), is sent to regional customs bodies for execution. Registration during which customs control is exercised lasts for a term of 2 years after which it may be extended for the following term at the application of the right holder. In which case the validity period for registration may not exceed the validity period for intellectual property rights. Registration fees for object of intellectual property are collected for the following actions: - 1330 Som (about US $29) for registration of each object of intellectual property; - 410 Som (about US $9) for extension of the term of registration of objects of intellectual property. In case of revealing the goods containing the object of intellectual property registered in the registry, the customs suspend release or conventional release and sale of these goods. In which case the goods are not detained, if after notice of suspension, the right holder gave written consent to import. Decision on suspension of release for up to 10 days with the possibility of further extension for a term not exceeding 10 days is made by the head of the customs agency.

Customs agency must notify the declarant and right holder of suspension of release within 48 hours after making the decision on suspension. Within 10 days after the right holder received the notice of suspension of release of the goods, he must submit to the customs agency the documents testifying the institution of the judicial proceeding with respect to the detained goods. Otherwise the goods will be returned to the declarant. In addition, the right holder must within 3 days after detention, attachment of the goods pay to the deposit of the customs agency the amount sufficient for coverage of the debts of the declarant incurred in connection with such detention as a guarantee from which the declarant’s damages will be paid in case the court finds that the detained goods are not counterfeited. The court reviewing the matter of counterfeit of suspended goods also decides the issue of providing the right holder with the guarantee. Customs agency may without any harm to protection of information constituting state, commercial or official secret or other secret protected by law, provide the right holders and declarants with the information which may be used for determination of counterfeit of the goods. With the permission of the customs agency and in presence of its official the right holder and declarant may take tests and samples of the goods with respect to which the decision on suspension of release was made and to conduct their study (examination). In which case the right holder and the customs agency bear financial liability for non-compliance with the requirements of confidentiality and intentional disclosure of confidential information. The decision on detention of goods is also made in case the right holder sublits a documentary evidence of the institution of judicial proceeding with regard to suspended goods and the precept to arrest the goods. 8. PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTING INTELLECTUAL PRIPERTY RIGHTS There is a wide range of adopted legal acts and regulations prepared in accordance with world trends in IP field. However, the main problem is the absence of precise and univocal mechanisms of practical use of adopted laws by various authorised state agencies. For example, according to Civil legislation the authors and right-holders keep the right to claim on and require the admission of breaching both personal non-economic (copyrights, right for the name, right for safety of works) and economic (right for production/publishing, copying, lending, distribution, public performance, public announcement etc.). Therefore, Kyrgyzpatent cannot prosecute civil claims and protect the rights of authors and right-holders except for the cases where corresponding authorities are directly delegated to Kyrgyzpatent by authors and right-holders (Centre for Collective Management of Authors Economic Rights). According to acting legislation Kyrgyzpatent has a warrant which is only to state the facts of legal violations while the cases of prevention of violations belong to the competence of other state bodies – antimonopoly agency, courts, police, customs and tax services, and prosecutor's office. Another examples is that the Criminal Code (Articles 150 and 191) prescribes criminal liability for IP crimes. However, criminal information against law breakers can be laid only upon the application of right-holders or employees of internal affairs bodies on the fact of crime. The reality is that usually such claims are prosecuted upon the applications from

aggrieved persons, i.e. authors and right-holders which are not always known. Usually the police and the prosecutor's office do not prosecute and hold investigation independently, although they are allowed to do this. It also necessary to note that the protection of IP rights are provided by the Constitution and the breach of such rights are considered as an attempt upon constitutional principles. Therefore the Article 150 «Breach of copyrights, related rights and rights of right-holders» of the Criminal Code prescribing the criminal liability for breach of copyrights is considered as a crime against constitutional rights and liberties of people. In this regard, the General Prosecutor's Office should deal with all cases on this article while the crimes on Article 191 «Illegal use of trademarks» of the Criminal Code should be investigated by the internal affairs bodies (police). However, due to difficulty of the process of proof and lack of personnel neither prosecutor's office not the police cannot regularly work in this field. The employees of Kyrgyzpatent are invited to work as experts only, and all processual actions can be undertaken only by law-enforcement facilities. One of the most serious problems which the law-enforcement authorities are facing with is the estimation of the cost of damage caused by the law violator. According to the legislation the significant damage is a damage which 500 times exceeds the minimal monthly wage (approximately USD 2). A separate section (Articles 339-345) of the Administrative Code prescribes the administrative liability for some breaches of IP regulation. The investigation of crimes on these articles is in the competence of rayon (district) and city courts (general jurisdiction). Some border actions on IP protection are prescribed by the Custom Code (Articles 28-31). In 2002, a special regulations approving the new procedure of customs control in relation to goods comprising IP elements has been adopted by the Government. However, a new procedure of customs control is not yet in force as internal procedures are not properly followed. It is obvious that Kyrgyzpatent does not have enough capacity and authority to solve all problems with implementation of IP related rights. Currently, Kyrgyzpatent carries out the work on regulation of inter-cooperation of different state agencies involved in IP objects protection having actual tools to enforce law performance. Kyrgyzpatent faces general and mass unfitness of law-enforcement workers while trying to use the legal norms and impose penalties on offenders. First of all this relates to psychological barriers from old civil-political system. Kyrgyzpatent has a lot of problems itself, but it, however, is ready to help law-enforcement authorities in the process of IP crimes prevention. That is why it is necessary to carry out comprehensive informative, educational and legal work through organisation of training and round-tables for authors, right-holders, IP object users, and representatives of state agencies. It is necessary to plan and hold a number of consecutive activities on introduction of experience of other countries having effective system of IP rights protection and IP related crimes prevention. There is a strong requirement for material-technical provision of this work (provision with office equipment, informational support and staff training) to make the works on claims of right-holders and corresponding authorised specialists more effective.

Apparently, an absence of specialised courts or prepared judicial corps at common law courts and arbitrage courts is the major problem of protection of author’s rights and right owners. High judicial bodies such as Supreme Court and Superior Arbitrage Court have to learn and summarise a practice and give interpretation and comments on issues of the judicial practice to judicial corps. Such work has not been carried out yet. Therefore judges have permanent problems in pleading cases. The only mechanism on interagency interaction is Extended Board of Kyrgyzpatent. Tasks of the Board are the following: developing proposals on interaction for suppression of right infringements in the area of IP, as well as regulating this interaction and collaboration. It is important to note that the Board consists of representatives of executive powers, law-enforcement, judicial, custom, and tax bodies, which are involved in the process. FURTHER STEPS It is necessary to improve existing legislation in the field of IP on the following issues: • Amendments to existing legislation (Criminal Code, Administrative Code, Customs

and Tax Codes, relevant laws) with taking into account the legal practice; • Improvement of bylaws in order to elaborate a mechanism of performance of legal

regulations; • Determination and development of methods of implementation of IP rights jointly with

law-enforcement authorities; • Elaboration of a united mechanism of cooperation of different state agencies to deal

with piracy and imitation. In the field of IP rights implementation: • to improve the work of the Board of Appeal with an opportunity to attract independent

experts (Association of Patent Attorneys). To expand the functions of the Board of Appeal on investigation of disputes along with the provision of protection of rights for other IP objects in accordance with administrative procedures;

• to provide of legal, methodical and consulting support to authors, inventors, right-holders and entrepreneurs;

• to train legal specialists, especially, judges on IP protection issues; • to conduct seminars for various focus-groups: police, prosecutor's office, judges,

customs and tax authorities, authors and right-holders, Kyrgyzpatent specialists; • to support Kyrgyzpatent's initiative to organise the academic department «Intellectual

Property Rights» along with the attraction of foreign specialists (WIPO, Russian IP Institute etc.).

AFTERWORD One of the main priorities indicated in the Kyrgyz Republic is the attraction of foreign investments. The is a practice of provision of preferential business conditions for large investors. While analysing the existing IP related legislation and the ways it is used we may state that the potential investor (trans-national corporations) can rely on exclusive agreements rather than on use of well-balanced and logical system of legal acts and mechanisms of their application. Taking into account the size of internal market and in case the company does not have a country office in Kyrgyz Republic it would be rather difficult for the company to protect its rights basing only on existing legislation and legal mechanism. Note: During October 9-11, 2002 a Consultative Group Meeting of Donors for the Kyrgyz Republic will take place in Bishkek. The strategy for further financial and technical assistance for the country will be developed during the meeting. Basing on the need of sustainable development of the country and taking into account the multidimensional nature of existing problems it is important that the clear intention to develop legal and institutional base in the field of IP is discussed among the actual direction of technical assistance. It is not only the assistant for Kyrgyzpatent. This is about the support for partner system in this field (law enforcement authorities, judicial and prosecution bodies, customs and tax service, business representatives, and mass media).