NEWS

United States Patent and Trademark Office and Cuban Industrial Property Office to participate in historic meeting

Release time:

2016-10-21 15:39

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI) took part in a historic meeting.

The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last week in Switzerland decided to allow the USPTO and OCPI to exchange views on strengthening institutional governance for the 21st century.

U.S. Department of Commerce's Undersecretary for Intellectual Property and USPTO Deputy Director Ross. Raiver (Russ Slifer) attended the meeting and called it a historic meeting of "two innings" in a blog post.

Sriver said, "Just two years ago, President Obama's historic declaration paved the way for a more open U. S.-Cuba relationship."

He sees this as an opportunity for the USPTO to "support and facilitate trade and investment between the United States and Cuba.

"So under President Obama and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (Penny Pritzker), we are working to create a strong intellectual property framework that will help both countries attract investment and promote research and development," Sriver said."

Over the past few months, the USPTO has begun to engage with OCPI to develop a long-term strategy to protect intellectual property.

In September, the USPTO participated in a WIPO regional seminar on the Patent Cooperation Treaty in Havana to "explore ways the United States can achieve transnational litigation".

Sriver met with a number of Cuban officials, including OCPI officials, in Havana and "discussed the USPTO's responsibilities and reaffirmed the United States' interest in future cooperation on intellectual property issues".

In May 2016, the USPTO traveled to Cuba to participate in a series of events organized by WIPO and OCPI.

"Participants included academics, local industry and intellectual property experts and government officials, focusing on patents and technology transfer issues," he said."

According to Nanjing Huaxun US patent, this is the first time in more than 50 years that US officials have had the opportunity to hold a face-to-face meeting with OCPI.