International Conference of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club

The Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, established in 2001, held for the first time a conference on the issues of intellectual property protection in Moscow. Founders and members of the Club are leading Bulgarian jurists, the lawyers from Sikaylo, Gabbasov, Romakhova & Co, and judges in the supreme courts of Russia and Bulgaria.

Visit of the Supreme Court of Arbitration (from left to right): Mr. Emil Markov, judge from the Supreme Court of Cassation Prof. Doncho Hrusanov, Law Department of Sofia University; Prof. Evgenia Kotseva, Deputy Dean of the Law Department of Sofia University; Mrs. Lyubka Ilieva, Deputy Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Cassation; Prof. Dimiter Tokushev, Dean of the Law Department of Sofia University; Mrs. Veneta Markovska, Deputy Chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court; Prof. Tencho Kolev, Deputy Dean of the Law Department of Sofia University; Mrs. Stefka Stoeva, Chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court; Mr. Dimiter Tomov, Chairman of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club; Mr. Alexei Sikaylo, member of the Steering Committee of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, lawyer at Sikaylo, Gabbasov, Romakhova & Co Lawyers Office, Mr. Mikhail Mamonov, head of International Law Department with the Supreme Court of Arbitration, Mr. Marat Gabbasov, Co-chairman of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, lawyer at Sikaylo, Gabbasov, Romakhova & Co Lawyers Office

Intellectual property protection has been a topical issue for Russia lately, in connection with its membership in the World Trade Organization. However, it is not a question of Russia’s international image alone. The problem with the pirate and unlicensed products transferred to the area of drugs and foods represents a real threat to the life of the people. The infringements of patent rights and trademarks often leave us in the dark regarding the quality of the building materials we use, or the household equipment sold under the logo of a well-known mark. Or won’t the “trademark” garment, bought at the market, cause allergy in our kid. Thus, the infringement of intellectual property rights becomes a major problem of consumers.

Judges from supreme instances in Russia and Bulgaria gathered at the Russian Academy of Justice to discuss this problem. From Bulgaria – the deputy chairperson of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Lyubka Ilieva, the deputy chairpersons of the Supreme Administrative Court Veneta Markovska and Stefka Stoeva, the judge from the Supreme Court of Cassation Emil Markov, eminent lawyers, professors, the dean of the Law Department of Sofia University, Prof. Dimiter Tokushev. From Russia – the judges from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Stanislav Razumov and Vasiliy Nechaev, the deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Arbitration Vladimir Isaichev, the judge from the Supreme Court of Arbitration Elena Moiseeva, judges from the general judiciary, representatives of the prosecution, of the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks. Among the participants in the conference were representatives of holders of such rights and organizations dealing with intellectual property protection, prominent lawyers, experts.

The International Conference is one in the series of regular academic events of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, but it is the first one held in Russia. A large number of reports on the issues of intellectual property protection were read and discussed.

Lawyer Alexey Sikaylo pointed out that international cooperation in the field of intellectual property protection is a necessary element for the law enforcement in Russia and in Bulgaria. He underscored that within the sidelines of the conference meetings were held between Bulgarian judges and the representative of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Lebedev and the deputy chairmen of the Supreme Court of Arbitration Vladimir Isaichev and Yukhney. The direct contacts of the judges in the supreme courts of the two countries will have a beneficial effect on the development of law enforcement and law making in the sphere of intellectual property.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Alexey Lihachov spoke about the problems of law making in the sphere of intellectual property, the bills currently reviewed in the Duma which are aimed at guaranteeing real protection both of the rights of authors and rights holders and of the consumers. Lihachov stressed that the laws passed by the Duma have to be intelligible to the people and provide real mechanisms for protection of their rights. To this end, the expert board of the Committee on Economic Policy collaborates with the judges’ association, with the relevant bodies and leading specialists in the field of intellectual property protection.

The Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Court Vyacheslav Gorshkov spoke about the judicial practice in this sphere, noting the problem areas of the operative law.

Elena Morgunova, deputy head of department at the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks, spoke on the protection of authors’ rights in the conditions of official assignment.

Great interest was stirred by the speech of Vitaliy Kalyatin on the topic “Internet – A Challenge to the Theory of Law”, where he proposed a new approach to solving the issue of the legal status of Internet. Is Internet free from legal norms? What are the electronic libraries? How to regulate the virtual media? V. Kalyatin asked these questions, which have no definite answers yet.

Prof. Mikhail Fedotov, head of the UNESCO Copyright chair, dedicated his speech to the new legislative initiatives of the government, related to the drafting of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, wholly devoted to the protection of intellectual property. Prof. Fedotov drew the attention to the fact that the transfer of the entire regulation of intellectual property matters to the Civil Code, as well as the inclusion of administrative norms in it, contradicts the system of civil legislation, and in addition considerably reduces the chances for authors and right holders to defend their rights. He pointed out that law making in this sphere is very complex.

Anton Kuznetsov, deputy head of department in Office K (for combating crime in information-telecommunication media), underlined that from January 1, 2005 at the Ministry of the Interior and the regional administrations special divisions were set up for combating infringements of copyright and related rights, equipped with state-of-the-art computer technology. Last year 682 crimes in this sphere were discovered, of which 500 criminal actions were brought to court. 1723 administrative offences were also discovered. 745 items of unlicensed software and multimedia products worth more than 70 million rubles were confiscated.

Deputy Prosecutor of Presnenski District, Moscow, Mikhail Voshtinski focused on the new kind of crimes related to patent infringement.
Viktor Zlotya, deputy director of the Russian Anti-pirate Organization, spoke about the future of the fight against unlicensed products.
The chairmen of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, Dimiter Tomov and Marat Gabbasov underlined the need to spur the efforts of the lawyers from the two countries and use the gained experience in order to solve jointly the sore problems of our time.

The aim of this forum was to discuss the issues of providing legal protection in the field of copyright and related rights and industrial property, including product marking and means of individualization.

The materials from this International Conference will be published in a collection, which will be the next in the 9-volume series of publications of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club.