Successful study visit of the delegation of Kosovo to the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office 13-15 October 2014

A delegation of Kosovo arrived in the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) in the framework of the European Commission funded capacity building project "Strengthening the Intellectual Property Right System in Kosovo" implemented by the Danish Patent and Trademark Office on 13 October 2014.

The Kosovar delegation included representatives of the Kosovo Customs, Police, Market Inspectorate and Prosecutor’'s Office as well as senior officials of the Kosovo IP Agency.

The first day of the visit was devoted to the presentation of the Hungarian and European legislation and non-legislative initiatives related to the enforcement of IPRs. The experts of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office gave an overview of the role of HIPO in enforcement of IPRs, the awareness activities of the National Board Against Counterfeiting (NBAC) as well as the EU legislation on enforcement, and the work of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

The second day our guests could get an insight into the work of the Airport Customs Directorate 1 of the National Tax and Customs Administration as a hands-on activity. Besides, they heard presentations on the legal basis of market inspection with respect to IPR.

The third day the head of the NBAC working group on medicine counterfeiting shared her practical experiences of the fight against medicine counterfeiting, which was followed by a presentation on the role of the Hungarian police in the struggle against medicine counterfeiting. Subsequently, a trainee solicitor introduced the legal issues and anti-piracy strategies in Hungary form the point of view of the private sector. In the afternoon prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General and from the Metropolitan Chief Prosecution Office presented their experiences, as law enforcement agencies, in the fight against copyright crimes.

In the end of the visit the delegation of Kosovo expressed their satisfaction with the professional content and organisation of their study visit in Budapest.