Projects
◊ Current Projects
EU Support to intellectual property rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The project is financed by the European Union with the aim of improving the competitiveness and innovativeness of the economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of the project is to implement the system of intellectual property rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina as support for the creative economy and social and cultural development.
The project works on building the capacity of BiH institutions responsible for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights through improving cooperation between them, amending regulations related to intellectual property and their further harmonization with the European legal acquis, as well as raising awareness of intellectual property among the general public.
The expected results are:
• increased level of compliance of regulations in the field of intellectual property with the European legal acquis;
• strengthened capacity of institutions in BiH that are responsible for the protection of intellectual property rights; and
• increased level of public awareness of the importance of intellectual property.
◊ International Cooperation
Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within its jurisdiction, fosters international cooperation with institutions in other countries, as well as with international intellectual property organizations operating at world, regional or other levels.
Institute also prepares grounds for accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to bilateral and multilateral agreements, conventions and treaties in the domain of intellectual property.
Jurisdiction of the Institute as well is to conduct procedure for international registration of industrial property rights under international conventions to which Bosnia and Herzegovina acceded.
Institute is also beneficiary of projects financed from international level (e.g. EUIPR project, USAID IPR project, EU IPR ENFORCEMENT project).
◊ Prior Projects
EUIPR project
EUIPR is the acronym standing for European Union Intellectual Property Rights. Under this technical designation operated the EU funded CARDS 2006 Project "Capacity Building in Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina" that lasted from September 2007 to September 2009 with a local Team Unit stationed in Mostar, in the premises of the Intellectual Property Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The overall objective of the Project was to improve the intellectual property framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to achieve compliance with the regulations of the World Trade Organization and the European Union, that is to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet the requirements set in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and Stabilization and Association Agreement, and thereby contribute to providing a sound base for the economic development of the country.
The specific objectives of the Project were directed towards:
- support and development of the administrative capacity of the Intellectual Property Institute, being the main beneficiary of the Project,
- completion, updating and strengthening of the legal framework in the field of IPR and
- support to and upgrading of the wider IPR environment, especially in respect of enforcement and public awareness.
Regarding the abovementioned objectives, Project has achieved the following results:
- Policy Paper of the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina was drafted;
- document "Functional analysis of the BiH IP Institute" was made, containing proposal for new organizational scheme, projection of the number and the profile of the staff as well as job descriptions.
- training of the Institute's staff was carried out through study tours and participation in professional seminars (introductory training program was opened for other stakeholders as well, and popular brochures on intellectual property were distributed, too);
- following documents were produced:
a) Draft Law on Copyright and Related Rights,
b) Draft Law on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights
c) Draft Law on Patents;
d) Draft Law on Trademarks,
e) Draft Law on Industrial Designs,
f) Draft Law on Geographical Indications,
g) Draft amendments to existing Criminal law,
h) Draft Law on the Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits.
The Project also participated in the making of the Draft Law on New Plant Varieties Protection, which was organized by the BiH Administration for Plant Health Protection.
Tasks relating to drafting internal directives for the BiH IP Institute were also accomplished. The document titled "Internal Directives" was made. It is in fact a detailed guide through the procedure of granting patents and trademarks, intended for Institute's staff.
- PATLIB Centre and data-room were opened: Institute staff and the Short Term Expert in charge of PATLIB were included in study tours, PATLIB was opened in June 2009 at Institute's branch office in Banja Luka and equipped with adequate promotional materials, and it also provides service of electronic access to available data bases.
- in the framework of tasks that relate to Official Gazette and Institute's webpage, documents titled "Official Gazette of the BiH Intellectual Property Institute" and "Webpage of the BiH Intellectual Property Institute" were made. Institute's webpage was posted at the address www.ipr.gov.ba.
USAID IPR project
The USAID Intellectual Property Rights Protection (IPR Project), that commenced in September 2009 and lasted for two years, supported continued development of the intellectual property system in Bosnia and Herzegovina through technical and material support to the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other public sector agencies, and through activities that raised the awareness of the importance of the protection of intellectual property rights to the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
More at the following link http://www.usaidipr.ba/engl/.
EU IPR ENFORCEMENT Project
Project Title: „Support to the Institutions within the System of the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights"
Project was funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by a consortium led by SOFRECO.
Acronym: EU IPR ENFORCEMENT
Project commenced on February 4, 2013 and lasted for 24 months.
Main objective of the Project was to asssist institutions responsible for the enforcement of intellectual property rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina in achieving standards of the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the European Union.
CBIIP project
Project title: “Capacity Building of the Institute for Intellectual Property through the Establishment of Information-Educational Centres of the Institute”
Acronym: CBIIP
Project objective was capacity building of the BiH Institute for Intellectual Property through the establishment of Information-Educational Centres (IECs) of the Institute within the framework of the Institute and in accordance with its structural arrangement.
Information-Educational Centres ought to provide significant support to beneficiaries of the intellectual property system in Bosnia and Herzegovina by offering a whole range of services on a high level, well defined and with clear objective to increase level of “intellectual property culture” in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the general benefit of innovations in this country and for meeting the criteria of international treaties this country has signed in the field of intellectual property and in related fields.
This project was funded by the European Union and implemented by consortium led by HD European Consulting Group.