IPR seminar audience

On 6 April 2006 a seminar was organized in Smolny, St. Petersburg, to present and discuss the first results of the analysis on the present situation in protecting and enforcing IPR in Russia and especially in St. Petersburg. 

With the support of the City Administration and the Baltic Research Center, the seminar "Protecting and Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in Today’s Russia - Case: City of St. Petersburg" was successfully held and over 80 participants of the IP/IPR field met in the Lepnoy zal in Smolny.

The seminar was open to a selected group of key IPR actors in St. Petersburg as well as top-level experts from Finland, Denmark and the USA. Some 80 people participated in the seminar, which was opened by Mr Mikhail Oseyevsky, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg and Mr Esa Kokkonen, Director of the Baltic Institute of Finland.  Mr Nikolay Arkhipov, Vice Chairman of the Committee on the Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade acted as the moderator of the seminar.

In their greetings for the project and the seminar, the representatives of national patent offices mentioned it as a welcome concrete tool to enhance the international cooperation between the three countries. They also wished the seminar and the project the best of success. 

Mr Antti Juva from Hermia Business Development talking about making money with IPR

The seminar presented the first results of the analysis on the current situation in protecting and enforcing IPR in St. Petersburg. The analysis is hoped to give a good foundation for planning the project's future activities and even its second phase. Finnish and Danish experts gave their overview and also suggested some further measures for developing the situation. 

Especially Mr Antti Juva's ideas about IPR as part of the larger innovation system and a potential source for making profit were found interesting among the audience. Mr Juva also challenged the audience with the question of ownership of IPR process in St. Petersburg. In his comments, Mr Nikita Lomagin mentioned that the choice between making or not making profit with IPR is a complex issue, and the differences between e.g. Finland and Russia have a big influence in this.

Mr Markku Simmelvuo compared the IPR fields in Russia and Finland, and pointed out that the situation with protecting and enforcing IPRs in Russia is better than is sometimes thought in Finland. However, there are challenges especially in the enforcement. Also, the awareness of and respect for IP and IPR still need to be developed. Nevertheless, according to Mr Simmelvuo Russia is on the right track! In his comments, Mr Golovatsky agreed that the legislation is on the same level with the rest of the world.

One aim of the project is to develop an IPR network between the main the actors in the field of IPR in the city of St. Petersburg. During the seminar the first meetings for workgroups were organized. They concentrated on the following themes: 1) awareness raising, 2) law enforcement and 3) competence building.

After the workgroup sessions, the chairmen gave their conclusion on the work. Each group greeted the idea as positive and also found some concrete ideas that they could work on in the future. 

During the cocktails the discussions continued in an informal atmosphere

The seminar offered the experts of the project, the IPR actors in St. Petersburg and other participants an excellent opportunity to discuss the analysis results and the planned activities in the project. The discussions were continued during the cocktails after the seminar.

This discussion will be continued by e-mail according to the instructions sent to the participants. Further activities of the project - workshops, network meetings, trainings etc. - will be informed to the IP society members closer to the dates of the events via the website and by e-mail.

The seminar theme was found so interesting even for the media that there were many reporters present. Even the Finnish Broadcasting Company made a report on a theme close to the seminar and the project, namely fighting against piratism in St. Petersburg. The tv-report was made in close connection to the seminar and the project. The report was shown in the main news broadcast in Finland on 6 April.

Seminar programme and presentations

Seminar programme (pdf, 70 kB)

Ïðîãðàììà ñåìèíàðà (pdf, 154 kB)

Seminar participants/ó÷àñòíèêè ñåìèíàðà /  (pdf, 130 kB)

Greetings from Rospatent
Mr Oleg Dobrynin

Greetings from the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
Mr Martti Enäjärvi (pdf, 10 kB)

Greetings from the Danish Patent and Trademark Office
Mr Jesper Kongstad (avi, 10 MB)

Promoting intellectual property protection and related awareness raising in St. Petersburg 
Ms Katja Kaunismaa, The Baltic Institute of Finland (pdf, 440 kB)

Make money or lose money with IPR it is time to choose: General conclusions on the IPR situation in the city 
Mr Antti Juva, Hermia Business Development Ltd (pdf, 1,41 MB)

A comparison of the IPR field in Russia and Finland, especially based on the project analysis 
Mr Markku Simmelvuo, Papula-Nevinpat Ltd (pdf, 370 kB)

Creating networks, enhancing IPR system - Presentation of IP Society 
Mr Poul-Erik Nielsen and Jørgen Lindgreen Hansen, Danish Patent and Trademark Office (pdf, 130 kB)

Raising awareness and building competence in IPR - experiences from the USA
Mr David Carson, Library of Congress, Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office (pdf, )