IRZ expert, lawyer Markus Scheufele, during his lecture (screenshot) Kazakhstan
On 15 and 16 October 2020, IRZ organised an online seminar on the collective management of copyright and related property rights, alongside the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Around ninety participants from the business community, the Ministry of Justice for Kazakhstan and international copyright collectives discussed topics including:
Efficiency and transparency in managing copyright and related property rights in connection with WIPO practices and the EU Directive on the collective management of these rights
Specific features of the collective management of copyright in various fields and the experiences of international copyright collectives.
Pricing policies of copyright collectives from the perspective of the EU
The practice of assigning rights and the related challenges involved in various aspects of the collective management of copyright
IRZ was able to recruit lawyer Markus Scheufele as an expert in copyright issues. In his lecture on “Fair compensation for private copies in Germany and the EU – legal and historic background, fees and charges and their implementation”, Scheufele outlined German copyright law, which was changed as a result of a 2001 EU directive on copyright law in the information society. He explained the Padawan judgement delivered by the ECJ in 2010 on basic issues concerning the private copying levy and the EGEDA judgement passed by the ECJ in 2016. At the time, the court affirmed its Padawan ruling, according to which companies cannot be charged with private copying levies. To conclude his lecture, Markus Scheufele presented the German fee policy in this context.
The two-day seminar was met with a great deal of interest from the participants, and so IRZ wants to continue supporting other opportunities for cooperation on copyright issues in the future.
Patent attorney, European patent attorney and European trademark and design attorney Manuel Soria Parra during his online lecture on the Hague Design Agreement Kazakhstan
On 17 September 2020, IRZ, together with the Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kazakhstan and the World Intellectual Property Organization, organised an online seminar on the Hague agreement for the international registration of industrial designs and models. Around 85 representatives from the following institutions took part in the conference:
Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Regional Ministries of Justice in the Republic of Kazakhstan,
National Institute of Intellectual Property,
“Atameken”, the national representation of businesses in Kazakhstan and
Patent attorneys in Kazakhstan.
The Hague Design Agreement is a system allowing the international registration of industrial designs and models, which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The agreement, which covers the Hague Act of 1960 and the Geneva Act of 1999 with each of their different legal provisions, provides protection for owners of industrial designs or models through international registration with the WIPO.
Representing IRZ as an expert, Manuel Soria Parra gave a lecture on “Protecting Designs in Germany and Europe”. Manuel Soria Parra is a patent attorney, European patent attorney and a European trademark and design attorney at the firm Meissner Bolte Patentanwälte Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft mbB. His lecture included a comparison between the protection of registered Community designs with those that have not been registered, outlining the main differences between them.
Since Kazakhstan is currently working on draft legislation covering the protection of unregistered designs and models, the participants from the Ministry of Justice for Kazakhstan found the expertise provided by Manuel Soria Parra particularly interesting and useful.
IRZ will be happy to continue supporting discussions between German experts and the Ministry of Justice for Kazakhstan on this and other similar topics in future.
IRZ expert Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, during the conference Kazakhstan
This year, the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its constitution. To mark the occasion, on 27 August 2020 the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan organised an online conference on “The Constitution in the 21st Century - the Rule of Law, the Value of human Beings and the Effectiveness of the State”.
Attending this high-level protocolary event were:
top representatives of Kazakhstan’s state authorities,
prominent public figures,
well-known scientists and academics,
representatives of international organisations,
presidents and judges from the constitutional courts of more than twenty states.
The IRZ partner states taking part in the online conference included Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
The President of the RK Constitutional Council, Kairat Mami, opened the conference and read out the welcome address of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nasarbajew. The President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Jomart Tokajev, then gave his welcome speech. He said that history has shown convincingly that the people strive for the establishment of the rule of law and for the guarantee of basic human rights and freedoms. Afterwards, IRZ Managing Director Dr. Frauke Bachler addressed the participants in the conference on behalf of IRZ.
The main focus of the event was on the importance of fundamental values and how these can be protected during the pandemic. IRZ expert Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, took part in the conference, giving a lecture on “Protecting constitutional human rights and democratic values during the Coronavirus era: the responsibilities of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany.” He spoke about how constitutional and administrative courts in Germany are dealing with the protection of fundamental rights in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The conference, which was broadcast live on YouTube, was divided into three sessions:
Constitution and the Rule of Law: Challenges and Ways of Solutions
Protection of Constitutional Human Rights and Democratic Values in the Digital Transformation Era
Constitutional Principles of Modernization of a Modern and Efficient state
Twenty high-ranking speakers ensured a multidimensional and international exchange of experiences, which also dealt extensively with the constitutional aspects of measures introduced in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic.
