Over the past couple of decades, Kazakhstan has issued many policies to support the economy of the country. As one of its latest efforts, recently, the government of this country has published a roadmap to improve the economy through the modification of Intellectual Property. So, what is Kazakhstan’s plan to improve and enhance IP in the near future?
Things haven’t looked good to Kazakhstan in recent times as this country has faced many revolutions, rebellions, terrorism, etc.
To tackle, this problem, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan has decided to solve the violations in a more peaceful way by appointing new members of the government including the Ministry of Justice which handles IP protection. The government of this country has also switched its focus to social-economic and state security reforms, along with the introduction of a new IP roadmap. However, what will be the impacts of this IP roadmap into the future of Kazakhstan remains to be seen.
The plan of Kazakhstan to improve IP is established to take place in the next 3 years, starting from the beginning of 2022 as this was announced by Vice Minister of Justice Akerke Akhmetova in December 2021.
According to the IP roadmap, Kazakhstan will focus on the establishment of a new department, the creation of a legal system for patenting, an exchange program that will enable training opportunities for Kazakhstan IP experts to travel and learn from other IP experts across the world, etc. The details of the IP roadmap are listed below:
- The establishment of a Technology and Innovation Support Central
- A system for the international patenting grant scheme;
- Specialized court for IP matters;
- Training opportunities on the commercialization of inventions for national inventors and for judges, study visits to EU countries, China, South Korea, and Japan;
- Increasing funding support for universities and research institutes.
With this roadmap, Kazakhstan is expected to develop strongly in the near future as the people will now have a strong legal system to follow through when encountering all IP problems.
Expert opinions
Annikki Hämäläinen, trademark attorney at Papula Nevinpat in Helsinki is a very talented lawyer who handles foreign trademark registrations, infringement, and counterfeit cases, among others, in Russia and the Commonwealth of the Independent States which includes Kazakhstan has stated about the recent IP roadmap of this country: “The Road Map is a plan aimed to improve further the field of IP in Kazakhstan. The objective is to increase the level of expertise and make it attractive to the business. We see that the plan will have a huge impact on the development of IP rights in Kazakhstan. The possibility of implementing a special IP Court will increase IP awareness. The measures for subsidizing international patenting should help local inventors.”
Kazakhstan’s IP treaties
Kazakhstan is a member of the following IP treaties:
- Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks
- Patent Law Treaty
- Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
- WIPO Copyright Treaty
- WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
- Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification
- Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs
- Trademark Law Treaty
- Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure
- Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks
- Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
- Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization
- Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
- Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
- Patent Cooperation Treaty
You can see a list of Kazakhstan IP firms here.