WIPO Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System: the 5th Session Concluded

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) on behalf of the Russian Federation participated in the 5^th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System of Appellations of Origin (AOs) and Geographical Indications (GIs) held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 24 to 26 January 2023.

Ms. Wang Binying, Deputy Director General, Brands and Designs Sector, WIPO, opened the session, welcomed the participants and highlighted increasing income of the Lisbon Union and expansion of its membership, including the recent accession of Peru and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), with its 17 Member States, to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement.

Deputy Director General emphasized that the Lisbon System had more than doubled over the past three years and covers up to 70 countries. Many of these States had already gained considerable experience in AO and GI examination.

Furthermore, Ms. Wang mentioned that the Russian Federation will join the Geneva Act next month, while the Russian delegation specified that the country’s accession depended on the WIPO’s readiness, as the depositary, to accept the instrument of accession. Rospatent, for its part, shared information that it had recently completed the preparatory work to start receiving international applications for AOs or GIs from Russian applicants’ and transmitting them to the International Bureau of WIPO, as well as carrying out examination of applications filed by foreign citizens who want to obtain protection of their AOs or GIs on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Working Group recommended to the Assembly of the Lisbon Union to approve deletion of Rule 5(4) of the Common Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement and adopt the proposed corrections to the Spanish version of the Common Regulations, with 1 October 2023 as the date of entry into force.

At the Roundtable organized during the session, WIPO Secretariat presented the new IT Platform (e-Lisbon) developed in less than a year. The platform is a tool to simplify and optimize the AO and GI filing process for users, beneficiaries and competent authorities.

Background information:

On 31 December 2022 the Federal Law on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications came into force. The Russian Federation is planning to deposit its instrument of accession to the Geneva Act with the WIPO Director General in early 2023. The Russian applicants will have the opportunity to file their international applications for AOs and GIs with Rospatent three months after deposit.

With the accession to the Lisbon System, the Russian Federation will become the Contracting Party of all international registration systems related to intellectual property.