Between 23 and 24 September the annual training for employees of the judicial system in the area of immovable property was held for the forth time, where judges from Latvia and lecturers form the biggest Member States of EU participated.
Since 2016 the Patent Office organizes trainings for the employees of the judicial system of Latvia, the daily work of which is related to the issues of the intellectual property. During these four years, within the framework of successful international cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), European Patent Office (EPO), as well as the Latvian Judicial Training Centre (LJTC), a sustainable training model for judges was developed, providing an opportunity for judges to systematically improve their professional knowledge and skills for work with cases of the intellectual property.
During opening of the seminar, Sandris Laganovskis, the Director of the Patent Office, mentioned that in the changing environment of nowadays, where several issues of protection of the intellectual property are constantly harmonized, including the harm, arising as a result of breach of the intellectual property rights, and the issues of remuneration, the trainings for judges are very important. “Qualification increase is a duty of every judge and it may be increased by both, regularly becoming acquainted with the latest legal literature, as well as analysing the case law and attending specially organized trainings. Although the cases of intellectual property are not many in Latvian courts, such trainings are very important, because the cases, which end up in the court hearing room, are often complicated and require knowledge of broad sources. We are glad that these trainings are implemented already for the fourt year in a row, thus facilitating strong, competent and independent judicial power and law enforcement authorities, who are competent on the issues of the intellectual property,” mentioned S.Laganovskis.
During the first day of the seminar Michael Fysh, the Queen’s Counsel (QC), Senior Counsel, presented about cases of dispute settlement in patent cases. Further on, Prof. Alexander von Mühlendahl, the patent attorney, provided an overview on the latest judicature of the Court of Justice of the European Union/ General Court, but the judge of the Department of Civil Cases of the Supreme Court, Dr.jur Zane Petersone, provided an insight into the common things and differences in the Directive on Commercial Secrets and the Directive on the application of the intellectual property.
On the second day of the training Thomas Dillon , the Counsel of WIPO on the legal issues, member of the Bar Council of England, member of the State Bar of California, informed about the criminal liability in cases of violation of the intellectual property rights as well as described online violations. Presentations of Richard Arnold , the judge of the High Court of the United Kingdom (England and Wales), were dedicated to the issues of determination of compensation for material loss, as well as actions with websites in cases of violations of intellectual property rights.
At the end of the seminar Michael Fysh gave a retrospect on the means of legal protection in patent cases, but Janis Ancitis, the Leading Scientific Advisor of the Patent Office, presented on the topic about the effect of the International Convention on the normative regulation of trade marks.
Approximately 50 judges and judge assistants from the Supreme Court, Riga Regional Court, Riga City Vidzeme Suburb Court, Riga City Latgale Suburb Court, Latgale and Kurzeme Regional Courts, as well as Administrative Regional Court participated in the seminar and positively evaluated the possibility to participate in the training and to acquire knowledge on the issues of protection of the intellectual property rights.