WIPO to open in Russia?
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is on its way to establishing its fifth external office in Moscow.
On March 23, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree to authorise the signature of an agreement to establish a representative office for WIPO.
According to the draft agreement, if established, the office will support WIPO as it implements its mandate to maintain the WIPO global systems, and will provide technical assistance in its efforts to develop a global infrastructure.
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other Russian authorities prepared the agreement.
It would be WIPO’s fifth office to be based outside its headquarters in Geneva. The other four are in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, New York and Singapore.
A WIPO spokesperson said the organisation was in discussions with several member states about establishing further external offices, though the establishment of a Moscow office has not been confirmed.
Natalia Gulyaeva, partner at Hogan Lovells in Moscow, said that a Russian WIPO office is unlikely to fulfil the need for faster processing of international applications, though may be useful in accelerating the process of handling the applicants’ inquiries.
Although there are currently few details about the office’s establishment, she said that this is a surprising development and “looks more like a global arrangement after the Russia’s accession to the WTO,” adding that the office will likely be used for representative purposes.
“The Russian publications focus on the fact that the WIPO representative office in Russia will be provided by the Russian government with the free-of-charge premises and will have a special status similar to the status of diplomatic mission,” she said.
She noted that the office’s establishment coincides with proposals to reform Russian copyright law. “Given that WIPO serves indeed as ‘administrator’ of international copyright treaties, this argument sounds relevant,” she said.
