Intellectual Property for Man and the Economy: IPQuorum 2019 Plenary

One of the main events of the first day of the International Strategic Forum on Intellectual Property IPQuorum 2019 was the plenary session on “IP code: all facets of intellectual property for individuals and the economy”.  The participants of the meeting discussed current problems within various sectors of Russian economy and the Forum member states through the prism of intellectual property.

The meeting was attended by Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad Region;  Pavel Stepanov, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation;  Lyubov Kiriy, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT);  Lyudmila Novoselova, Chairman of the Intellectual Property Court; Andrei Krichevsky, President of IPChain Association; Vladimir Soloviev, Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia; Alex Marukhin, President of JSC “CITRONICS”; Anna Kostyra, Managing Partner at Deloitte Legal CIS; and Alexander Subbotin, Member of the Board (Minister) for industry and agricultural complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad Region, set the tone for the meeting, noting the need to use convenient digital tools to protect Russian technological and creative business that creates intellectual property.  “The peculiarities of our region are that the activities of innovative companies working with us are aimed at the foreign market. Now they are dealing with the problems related to the patent offices in the USA and Europe.  We would like for such high-tech solutions as IPChain network to provide the possibility of very simple, fast and as low as possible protection of intellectual property, including for small and medium-sized businesses. IPChain network, in my opinion, is a very important pillar for the entire infrastructure of the sphere of intellectual property in Russia. Creators of intellectual property objects need simple applications to protect their ideas and make them profitable,” said Anton Alikhanov.

“IPChain network becomes an important structural element in the field of intellectual property not only in Russia,” said Andrey Krichevsky, President of IPChain Association. “We conducted a study in different countries of the world, in which we reviewed how intellectual property works in the digital environment.  Our experts looked at the levels at which certain digital products exist. They classified them into several segments: digital platforms, ecosystems and services.  In addition, we have identified two more important levels: the digital infrastructure, in which all intellectual property products operate, and regulatory state and legal institutions.  We saw that nowhere but in Russia the infrastructure level is filled, that is, in no country were they able to create a common environment that would allow the most diverse participants in the intellectual property market to easily interact with each other – and not only this market, but also participants in other segments of the economy. Representatives of the largest foreign corporations call our network a kind of spaceship; the only question is that they treat the space as something scary and incomprehensible. The main challenge for our company is to overcome this fear with the help of applied products for different business areas,” said Andrey Krichevsky.

The Chairman of the Intellectual Property Rights Court Lyudmila Novoselova spoke about the development of two major laws for regulating the sphere of intellectual property. “Everything is instantly distributed in a digital environment. It is very difficult to find the source of illegal copying, and attempts to block, from my point of view, are obviously doomed to failure. One of the ways to solve this problem is self-regulation. Large aggregators and market participants are trying to agree beforehand on how to act in the field of intellectual property. Two laws are currently being drafted: a law on digital financial assets and a law on investment platforms and crowdfunding. They directly relate to platforms on which monetization of intellectual property takes place.”

Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Pavel Stepanov noted that the protection of rightholders also has an economic justification, since it is necessary to return money to the creative industry. And like the industry of creating results of intellectual activity, it is now under the strong influence of digitalization. “Digital environment requires consideration of distribution mechanisms. Therefore, this technology, which is being discussed for the second year in Kaliningrad at IPQuorum, is very interesting and promising. Yes, space is scary… But as you know, ‘what the eye fears, the hands do’. And only being a pioneer in your area, you can create truly breakthrough things, especially in the field of intellectual property,” said Pavel Stepanov. Another challenge of the time, in his opinion, is the change of intermediary between the consumer of intelligent products and their creator. “Now technologies allow reaching the consumer in such a diverse and fast way that it is no longer possible to focus on the actor who has taken the initiative and responsibility. We understand that technology replaces these actors, and they provide access to intellectual products. And we need to understand how technological, legal, economic and social issues should be resolved. What should be the behavior of the consumer towards the creator and his product? This is very important, also to counter piracy!”

In her speech, Anna Kostira, Managing Partner at Deloitte Legal CIS, addressed the issues of stimulating and developing R&D processes: “The benefits that we now have are quite sufficient for this, but few people know about them. But those who know should be helped to fill out all these crazy forms and prove to the tax authority that this R&D is worthy of benefits. The problem is not in the laws, but in the fact that the fiscal authorities do not allow us to apply benefits. And if a business has the right to such benefits, then it should receive them in a simpler way.  Perhaps this is also the mission of tax authorities – not only to put prohibitive barriers, but, in fact, to popularize certain tools and measures.” According to Anna Kostyra, our domestic paradox remains the key problem for high-tech and industrial Russian business – “the result of intellectual activity (RIA) does not always become intellectual property”.

One of the reasons for this paradox is the underestimation of industrial intellectual property in Russian society, said Lyubov Kiriy, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT). According to the trend of recent years, the number of domestic patents is not growing. “Maybe, in relation to last year, we have slightly increased the number of applications from domestic inventors. It is approaching 25,000. But this is extremely an extremely small amount! Compared to the United States, this is by an order less, and to China – by two orders less! Russia should increase the number of applications for the results of intellectual activity in the technical field.”

But should all RIAs become objects of intellectual property and need protection? “Aren’t we protecting a pile of paper in which there is some kind of report and patent that nobody needs,” asked the Governor of Kaliningrad Region Anton Alikhanov, “and what to do next?” How to turn it from an accounting record of intangible archives into value? ”According to Anna Kostyra, the answer is not in the quantity but in the quality of patents. “Let’s learn to introduce ‘know-how’ correctly, to introduce only what we really want to tell the whole world about! And then we will learn to monitor and make profit from our intellectual property!”

Alexey Marukhin, President of JSC CITRONICS, using the example of his own company belonging to the technological sector, presented the advantages of cooperation with IPChain network. “It allows us to digitize and significantly accelerate the interaction of participants in the exchange of intellectual property rights. Thanks to this, Citronics is ready to offer its partners various formats for creating new products and services.”

At the end of the plenary meeting, President of IPChain Association and Alexey Marukhin, President of JSC CITRONICS, signed an agreement on connecting the corporation to IPChain network as a trusted node.

Another agreement was reached between the Union of Journalists of Russia (UJR) and n’RIS digital service. The signatories: Vladimir Solovyov, Chairman of the UJR, and n’RIS CEO Oleg Nekrasov agreed to work together to protect the intellectual rights of the community of journalists and authors of fiction. In particular, steps will be taken to reduce conflicts related to the use of works without the consent of copyright holders, as well as to create a culture of respect for the products of intellectual creative work.