BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 12. Copyright is protected in parallel with rights regarding industrial property objects, Chairman of the Board of the Intellectual Property Agency of Azerbaijan, Kamran Imanov, said at the Second Meeting of Heads of Intellectual Property Agencies of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) Member States in Baku today, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
“The copyright holder must declare that he/she doesn’t object to reproduction in the form in which the patent application or the description of the invention is entered into the Patent Register, and in this case, he/she retains his/her copyright,” he explained.
He noted that the registration of industrial property objects, including the preliminary examination and the substantive examination, is based on the overall results of the examination process.
"A key feature of the examination is the application of principles involving juxtaposition and comparison. At the same time, in countries where the voluntary registration of copyright and related rights objects is practiced, such registration serves a confirmatory function; this is because these objects are protected by law provided they meet the requirement of being expressed in an objective form, in addition to being the result of creative activity.
To a certain extent, the practice of making a decision on the protection of an industrial property object based solely on a preliminary examination resembles the registration process for copyright objects. This approach is implemented in a number of countries," he pointed out.
According to Imanov, the situation becomes even more complex when the issue arises regarding the possibility of simultaneous or parallel legal protection for an object under both copyright and industrial property rights.
"Indeed, while parallel legal protection was previously not accepted in a changing world, a stance justified by the requirement that the applicant choose the specific legal status under which to protect their intellectual property, there is now a noticeable trend toward parallel legal protection across different legal regimes. For instance, the U.S. Patent Office notes in its guidelines for the examination of patent applications that, in cases where copyright and patent rights overlap, a design patent may also be protected by copyright; to this end, the applicant is required to include a copyright notice, indicated by the symbol, in the application," the chairman added.
The second meeting of heads of intellectual property offices of member states of the OTS is being held in Baku, organized by the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Holding the second meeting in Azerbaijan during the country's chairmanship of the OTS is expected to contribute to the development of cooperation within the organization. It is also important for promoting Azerbaijan's initiatives in intellectual property, strengthening institutional ties with member states and demonstrating the country's active role within the organization.
Participants include OTS Deputy Secretary-General Merey Mukazhan; Chair of the Intellectual Property Rights Committee of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Justice Sholpan Abdreyeva; Kyrgyzstan's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Azerbaijan Maksat Mamytkanov; Head of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT) Muhammed Zeki Durak; and Deputy Minister of Justice of Uzbekistan and Head of the Intellectual Property Department Muzraf Ikramov.
