The Minister of Finance and Economy Anila Denaj and the Swiss Ambassador Adrian Maître signed a project agreement between the governments of Switzerland and Albania to improve and support the system of intellectual property rights. The project has a budget of 1.5 million Swiss francs and will provide assistance during a 4-year period. “Some of the expected results from this agreement include information exchange on Industrial Property legislation (IP) and reflections on its improvement, and cooperation in training programmes regarding Industrial Property. Also, we expect cooperation in information processing on patents, public services and inter-institutional collaboration in implementing intellectual property rights in Albania”, said Minister of Finance and Economy Anila Denaj.
Ambassador Maître stated that “The experience we have in Switzerland shows that a strong Intellectual Property system is key for innovation, sustainable trade and growth. It is also good to see that Albania has increased its international relations and participation to international agreements on intellectual property rights since protecting one’s own intellectual property and respecting the one of others are two sides of the same coin.”
The project will adapt current legislation and bring in technical expertise on the standards for managing intellectual property rights. It will work with the General Directorate of Industrial Property (under the Ministry of Finance and Economy) and the Copyright Directorate (under the Ministry of Culture) to improve the administration and use of intellectual property rights. Creators, innovators, artists and businesses are expected to benefit from an improved functioning of the intellectual property rights that extends to copyrights, trademarks, patents, geographical indication and design. One of the most applied cases of industrial property recently is the protection offered under the ‘Made in Albania’ geographical indication.
The Albanian-Swiss Intellectual Property project receives financing from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and is implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI). Exchanges with Swiss experts and transfer of knowledge from the IPI is a major part of the project’s activities.
A proper intellectual property system is central to encouraging innovation, creativity and development of new goods, services and production methods. The new project works towards this by improving the functioning of institutions and also enabling owners and creators to use their intellectual property rights.
