RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/MOL/18
23 June 1999
(99-2564)
Working Party on the
Accession of MoldovaOriginal:  English
ACCESSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Information on Intellectual Property Rights
The Ministry of the Economy of the Republic of Moldova has submitted the following
information on Intellectual Property Rights, with the request that it be circulated to Working Party
members.
_______________WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 2
Information on Intellectual Property Rights
The Republic of Moldova is aware that it is in its best interests to maintain a modern, efficient
industrial property administration enabling the Government to respond to new political andeconomical realities. The efficiency of the State economic, scientific and technical policy is
determined to a considerable extent by the current system of industrial property protection.
Namely it influences and represents the source of growth of intellectual potential and of development
of highly intensive technologies which lead to the prosperity of the country.
The status of intellectual property protection is ensured on the base of:
- The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova;
- WIPO Copyright Treaty, dated 20 December 1996;
- WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, signed on 20 December 1996;
- The Agreement of Collaboration on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights, dated
24 September 1993;
- Law on Property;
- The Presidential Decree on the Establishment of the State Agency on Industrial
Property Protection of the Republic of Moldova (AGEPI), No. 120 of 25 May 1992;
- Law on Copyrights and Neighboring Rights;
- Law No. 461-XIII/ 1995 on Patents for Inventions;
- Law No. 588-XIII/ 1995 on Trademarks and Appellations of Origin;
- Law No. 991-XIII/ 1996 on the Protection of Industrial Designs ;
- Law No. 915-XIII/ 1996 on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants;
- Decision of the Government on Industrial Property Protection in the Republic of
- Moldova No. 456 of 26 July 1998
- Decision of the Government on the Statute of the State Agency on Industrial Property
Protection of the Republic of Mo ldova No. 743  of 31 December 1996;
- Decision of the Government on the Application of Fees in the field of the Industrial
Property Protection No. 774 of  13 August 1997;
- Decision of the Government on the Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Moldova No.
313 of 1 July 1993.
O particular importance for the legal protection of industrial property is the Law of the
Republic of Moldova on the Limitation of Monopoly Activity and Development of Competition, Law
on Franchising, Law on Foreign Investments, Civil Code, etc., that not only expand the legal actions
but also increases the level of industrial protection in the Republic of Moldova.
The observance of laws is realized through the normative and standards acts of the State
Agency on Industrial Protection of the Republic of Moldova.
Accomplishments of the Control over current Legislation on the Copyrights and
Neighbouring Rights
The main form of control over the observance of legislation is the direct link with the
application of copyrights and neighbouring rights has been received. In this context, a significant
importance of the attitude of beneficiaries towards the object, protected by the copyright and
neighbouring rights: if four years ago the representatives of the Agency had to search forbeneficiaries, to explain the legislation to them and to impose them to legally use the protected works,
presently, in the majority of cases the beneficiaries are searching  in advance for the rights owners,
before they are using the protected works.WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 3
This acknowledgment has contributed to the publication of normative acts and
acknowledgments given in the periodical press, radio and TV programmes, as well as individual
understandings, and not least an important contribution belongs to the responsibility before the
judicature courts. In 1998 the Agency brought nearly 41 grievances and 16 requests to the court, and
written explanations have been sent to the leaders of more than 400 economic units, using the worksunder the protection of copyright and neighbouring rights.
Current legislation on Industrial Property Protection
Intensification of market reforms, commercialization of services in the field of industrial
property, prevention of illegal imports of patented  production and repression of unfair competition,
stimulation of inventive creativity and the increase of the volume of competitive production vitallyrequired  the elaboration of  a competent legislation that would protect the exclusive rights of owners
and would ensure a steady functioning of small and medium business and stumble information leak of
the most important scientific and technical achievements, etc.
Therefore it is necessary to elaborate corresponding amendments to the legislation of the
Republic of Moldova in the field of intellectual property.
The year 1998 was remarkable, especially for definitization of the legal system, improvement
of the granting and examination procedure for the protection of industrial property objects.
In this context, two draft laws should be mentioned:
- Law on Utility Models;
- Law on the Topography of Integrated Circuits.
For more efficient protection, AGEPI has presented to the Government a series of
amendments to the Code of Administrative Contraventions and a draft of Amendments to the Law on
Enterprises and Entrepreneurs, the latter aiming at the exclusion of possible divergences, between the
owners of firm names and the owners of  registered trademarks.
An important part in the legal activity of the AGEPI is implementation in the Republic of
Moldova of TRIPS Agreement, administered  by the WTO.
The diversity of provisions of TRIPS Agreement  made possible the training in this field of
customs officers, representatives of legal authorities, representatives of prosecutor’s offices, economic
policy, courts, etc.
In this context, the Department of Customs Control has proposed a series of measures to
insure the protection of industrial property at the borders of the Republic of Moldova, respectively, it
proposed to the Government the creation of a specialized group, which will coordinate matters related
to the said Agreement.
Detailed examination of the provisions of Agreements and Conventions, to which the
Republic of Moldova is party, facilitated the revision of certain provisions, thus making possible a
more efficient application of the legislation in force.
In this context, the procedure of examination and registration of franchising agreements was
finalized.  The procedure of approving the letters of agreement to the registration of signs, identical to
already registered trademarks has been examined.  A draft model status to the collective trade and/or
service marks has been elaborated.WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 4
Legislative Measures (amendments and new drafts), provided for 1999
- Law on Protection of Copyright and Neighbouri ng Rights (according to Article 9-14
TRIPS);
- Law  No. 461-XIII, 1995 on Patents for Invention (according to Article 27-33
TRIPS);
- Law No. 588-XIII, 1999 on trademarks and appellations of origin of products
(according to Article 15-24  TRIPS);
- Law No. 997-XIII, 1996 on Protection of Industrial Designs (according to Article 25-
26 TRIPS);
- Civil Code, Code of Civil procedure, Crimin al Code and Code of Criminal Procedure
(according to Article 31, 34-3, 41-50, 61 TRIPS);
- Draft Decision on the Establishment of Special Provisions Regarding Border
Measures in the Field of Industrial Property Protection.;
- according to Article 51-60 TRIPS;
- The draft Law on Topography of Integrated Circuits;
- The initiation of negotiations regarding the accession of the Republic of Moldova to
the Washington Treaty on intellectual property in the field of integrated circuits.
International cooperation
Being aligned with the rules of international law standards, the Republic of Moldova has
joined the international conventions, agreements and treaties in the field of industrial property
protection.
The Republic of Moldova is party to 15 international treaties, conventions and agreements in
the field of  industrial property protection. On 1 September 1998 Moldova entered into force theStrasbourg Agreement on International Patent Classification, and on 28 September 1998 the Republic
of Moldova has joined the International Conventio n on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
Cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
In this context should be mentioned the participation of the Republic of Moldova in the
activity of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and extension of cooperationrelations within diverse programmes, launched by WIPO for developing countries.
In the framework of International Unions and Standing Committees, representatives of the
Republic of Moldova participated in the works of the most important meetings of the working groups,
committees of experts and governing bodies and within other activities of the WIPO.
Members of the AGEPI staff  have participated at the meetings of Working Groups of the
WIPO, the main activity of which of is related to settlement of the procedure matters, distribution,
standardization and management in the field of patent information and  paid a special attention to
matters concerning the elaboration of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and have contributed to thedevelopment of meetings on the protection of well- known trademarks and other events organized by
WIPO.
WIPO is rendering permanent assistance in the improvement of professional qualification of
the staff members of the AGEPI.
The provision of the TRIPS Agreement concerning the protection of trademarks and
geographic indications, enforcement of industrial property rights with respect to counterfeiting of
trademarks, the role of the customs departments in the enforcement of intellectual property rights,WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 5
protection of copyright and neighbouring rights under the TRIPS Agreement - those where the
reference points of a two day regional seminar (21-22 October 1998), held in Chishinau, by the World
Intellectual Property Organization and AGEPI.
Collaboration with the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Within the process of accession of the Republic of Moldova to the WTO, the State Agency on
Industrial Property Protection extends its collaboration with WTO, focusing on the harmonization of
the legislation in the field of industrial property protection according to the provisions of the TRIPS
Agreement. Within this collaboration, Mr. Matthijs Geuze, Counselor of the Intellectual Property and
Investments Division of WTO made  an official visit to the AGEPI, rendering assistance both in
matters related to the harmonization of the national legislation on industrial property with theprovisions of the TRIPS Agreement and the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the World Trade
Organization.
In the balance year under review, the representatives of the AGEPI have attended the
meetings of the TRIPS Council and the bilateral and multilateral negotiations regarding the accessionof the Republic of Moldova to WTO, subsequent to this they have presented reports and answers to
the numerous questions, addressed by the representatives of the European Community, USA, Japan
and other countries regarding the patent legislation, protection of confidential information and of trade
secrets, prohibition of license contracts, limiting the competition in the field of protection of
topographies of integrated circuits, protection of geographic indications, enforcement of intellectualproperty rights.
Cooperation with the  European Patent Office (EPO)
Cooperation with the EPO is carried out on direct bilateral relations, as in ICON multilateral
programmes, TACIS regional project training of the specialists, English language courses, technical
assistance. Owing to the assistance of the EPO, representatives of the AGEPI, patent attorneys and
two judges had the possibility to attend 13 international seminars, organized in different countries
within the framework of the ICON Programme concerning management of patent information,
examination of inventions in the fields of chemistry, food industry, pharmaceutical products,
protection of new varieties of plants, the procedure of registration of inventions and trademarks,
enforcement of intellectual property rights and other important matters in this  field.
As a result of the assistance provided by EPO and of professional re- training courses, AGEPI
has now access to the INPADOC database since the summer of 1998, that allows efficient and quality
searches to be made in determining the novelty of inventions as well as other services.
On the basis of the experience, acquired by the AGEPI, the European Patent Office has
organized a regional seminar concerning the INPADOC database in Chishinau. The seminar has been
led by Ms. Nina Formby and Mr. Peter Paris, experts of the  European Patent Office. Experts in the
field of industrial property protection from 11 countries of the CIS and Mongolia met at the AGEPI,
attending a practical course of rapid, efficient and qualitative use of the INPADOC database,administered by the European Patent Office, Vienna.
Participants have been initiated in exploitation and accession procedures of the INPADOC
database - a compact system of patent literature, containing bibliographical data, relating to about
28 million inventions.
In 1998 the State Agency was visited by an EPO delegation. During this visit there were
discussions relating to the  industrial property protection, directions of cooperation between AGEPI
and PEO in the framework of the TACIS Regional Programme concerning rendering of assistance,WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 6
consultations and comments on harmonization of laws in force and draft laws of the Republic of
Moldova in he field of industrial property protecti on with the provisions  of the TRIPS Agreement.
Cooperation with the Eurasian Patent  Office
During the year under review, the AGEPI conti nued its activity within the framework of the
Eurasian Patent Convention which is very important for the observance of inventors’ interests of the
Republic of Moldova.
Taking into consideration the importance of the Convention as an instrument of the
integration process, undertaken in the field of industrial property protection in CIS countries, the
representatives of AGEPI took an active part in the works of different bodies of the Eurasian PatentConvention, participating in seminars and meetin gs of the Administrative Council and special
Working Groups of the Eurasian Patent Convention.
It is to be mentioned that at the last session of the Administrative Council, Mr. Eugen
Stashkov, General Director, was elected unanimously  as a vice-president of the Council for the last
period.
Extension of International Cooperation
The development of the bilateral collaboration is focused on two directions:- with foreign patent offices in accordance with the signed agreements;
- on the establishment of direct relations with the specialized organizations and firms in
the field of industrial property protection.
Bilateral agreements on cooperation, signed with many patent offices of the world constitute
the basis of training activities and patent information exchange.
In 1998 the Agreement on cooperation in the field of industrial property protection was
signed between the Republic of Moldova and Russian Federation.
During the reference period there has been deepened and extended cooperation with the
Department of Commerce of the United States of America within the framework of Commercial Law
Development Program (CLDP). During the visit und ertaken by his Excellency, the USA Ambassador
in Chishinau, Rudolf Perina and other representatives of the Embassy and of the Department of
Commerce of  the USA at AGEPI, problems were disc ussed concerning the extension of cooperation
between the Republic of Moldova and the United States in the field of industrial property protection.
According to the Memorandum of Cooperati on between AGEPI and the State Office of
Inventions and Trademarks (SOIM), Romania, signed  during the visit of the official delegation of
SOIM at AGEPI led by Gabor Varga, General Di rector, there have been organized permanent
exchanges of shared experience on the protection of trademarks, industrial designs, promotion ofinventions and optimization of the information in th e field of industrial property protection, as well as
consultations on the harmonization of the legislation of the Republic of Moldova in the field, with the
provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
Activity in the field of industrial property protection
Revealing the contribution of the inventive spirit to the solution of social-economic problems
of the country with the purpose of maximal evalua tion of the inventors’ creative potential, the AGEPI
has proposed to the President of the Republic of Moldova and to the Government the following:WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 7
- the creation of the State Extra-Budgetary Fund for the financial support of the
efficient harmonization and implementation of inventions in the national economy;
- the allocation of financial sources for the support of programmes of elaboration of
competitive technologies, their patent issuance and commercialization;
- the creation of state budget research-development centres within the enterprises and
institutions of the main branch of the national economy;
- the legalization of fiscal facilities for a period of 5-7 years for enterprises, using (or
commercializing abroad) new techniques and technologies, based on inventions,
created in the Republic of Moldova.
As to the matter of stimulation of the growth of objects of industrial property, it is to be
mentioned that it constitutes the main element of the patent policy, embracing the majority of legal
rights, resulting from the intellectual activity in the technical-scientific and agricultural-industrial
field, is provided: the stimulation of authors of patented inventions. With this purpose, all the
enterprises, associations, organizations and institutions of the Republic of Moldova, irrespective of
their type of property and their organizational-legal form, will be authorized to pay the investors and
contributors on their own financial accounts a unique charge.
The Ministry of Economy and Reforms, together with interested ministries have studied the
proposals of the Agency and have mentioned that they consider these proposals acceptable, which
corresponds to the concept of reform “Research-Development”, approved on 29 July 1998 and, on thebasis of the said concept, the Law on Research-Development and Other Normative Acts will be
elaborated, which would contain concrete measures on realization of proposals, initiated by AGEPI.
The activity of the Appeal Commission
Since 1994 some 90 appeals have been filed with the Commission of Appeal, 16 of which
have been completely or partly satisfied, the other 50 have been rejected on different reasons under
the provision of the legislation in force, four appeals have been withdrawn, one because of non-
compliance with the requirements of the Regulation of the Commission of Appeal of the AGEPI and
five appeals have been submitted for re-examination. The other 14 appeals will be examined in 1999.
Seven appeals from those rejected have been submitted to the Economic Court of the Republic of
Moldova for consideration.
Supplied services
One of main objectives of the AGEPI consists in rendering patent information services to
legal and natural persons from the inventive and entrepreneurial activity field.
In 1998, nearly 100 legal and natural persons benefited from AGEPI services in the field of
industrial property protection, 25 of which enjoyed complex services in the field of patent
information,
Patent and informational services are provided both by experts of the service groups and by
other specialists, professors from higher educational institutions, specialists from research institutions,
industrial property counselors  etc., who have graduated special courses within AGEPI and are
undertaking the activity in the servicing field under certain agreements concluded with the Agency.WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 8
In 1998 the following services were provided:
Elaboration of the documents of the applications for the registration of industrial property
objects:
- patents for inventions -  6;
- industrial designs - 8;
- trademarks according to the national procedure -  33;
- trademarks according to the Madrid procedure - 3;
- thematic search from patent literature - 8;
- thematic search from trademark literature - 20;
- 261 consultations on the industrial property rights together
with protective measures to the owners provided;
Distribution of patents, granted by the AGEPI in 1998 in accordance with the International
Patent Classification is the following:
- chemistry - 44 patents;
- agriculture - 36 patents;
- medicine and veterinary - 36 patents;
- mechanical, engineering and transports - 36 patents;
- human necessities - 21 patents;
- electric techniques and electronics - 11 patents.
- The total number of Eurasian patents, valuable
on the territory of the Republic of Moldova - 58
- including payment of annual fees
(during the first 3 years) - 23
Patents granted under national procedure:
No. Total 202 100%
1 National Owners 180 90
2 Foreign Owners 22 10
3 At the responsibility applicant 115 57
4 Under a substantive examination 87 43
5 Under an author’s certificate 21 10
6 For Plant Varieties 5 2,5
Patents granted under national procedure and distributed according to the country of residence
of the owner:
No Country Code Number of Issued Patents CIB Symbol
1 US 6 A61, B23, C07, C08, F01, E01
2 BY 3 A61K
3 CH 2 C07, C09
4 FR 3 A61, C08
5 DE 3 A61, A24
6 UA 2 A61K
7N L 1 D 0 1
8F I 1 C 0 7
9E S 1 C 0 7WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 9
Applicants registered under the Hague Agreement:
Country Code Registrations in 1998 Registrations in 1997
CH 218 140
DE 132 65
FR 120 76
IT 20 10
NL 11 9
BE 9 2
Other countries 9 3
Distribution of the filled application on Industrial Property Objects According to the
Procedure:
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Requests Requests Requests Requests Requests Requests
Investments
- National applicants
- Foreign applicants.103
67
36534
238
296299
270
29424
289
135347
295
52202
180
22
Utility Models:
- National applicants
- Foreign applicants2
2
-11
9
26
6
-9
8
15
5
-6
6
-
Trademarks
- National applicants
- Foreign applicants.616
165
45111,723
192
11,5312,470
305
2,1653,138
509
26294,125
860
3,2653,937
328
3,509
Industrial Designs:
- National applicants
- Foreign applicants6
6
-180
10
170246
9
237404
35
369456
62
394547
65
482
Practical measures regarding the supply of patrimonial rights, copyrights and neighbouring
right on collective principles.
In 1998 work continued on the conclusion of contracts with authors and the owners of
neighbouring rights regarding the transmission to the Agency of patrimonial rights for the supply oncollective principles. On 1 January 1999 the situation is characterized by the following statistical data:
Contractual
PartiesOn
1 January 1997On
1 January 1997On
1 January 1997
1Сompositors 25 167 223
2 Play-writers 1 4 4
3 Text authors, translators 21 130 197
4 Painters, scene-painters 4 21 45
5 Executor 12 53 65
6 Choreographs 3 12 12
7 Cinema operators - 2 8WT/ACC/MOL/18
Page 10
Contractual
PartiesOn
1 January 1997On
1 January 1997On
1 January 1997
8 Artists 230 742 935
9 Photographers - - 2
10 Total 296 1,131 1,491
The Agency acquired 56 agreements relating to the rights on the supply based on collective
principles of the patrimonial rights of authors a nd of owners of neighbouring rights from 44 states.
On the basis of authorizations from authors and owners of neighbouring rights, the Agency
issues licenses on the valuation of published works. By the end of 1998, owners of such licenses
numbered 924 legal persons, including:
- TV and radio organizations - 73
- organizations, using the works through the public
interpretation (including recordings in audio / video sports) - 424
- the valuation of audio and video recordings by multiplication.
Leasing, commercialization - 315
- valuation in industry of fine decorative and applied arts, works - 7- enterprises, paying countervailing fees for the valuation
with personal purposes of published works - 99
- mass media information - 6
The increase of the number of beneficiaries legally using the works, protected by copyright
and neighbouring rights led to the increase of honorary amounts acquired and paid after the entry in
force of the law on copyright and neighbouring rights:
Year Amount,
MDL 1,000% as compared
to 1995% as compared to  the
previous year
1995 133,3 100% 100%
1996 401,0 300,8% 300,8%
1997 578,2 433,7% 144,2%
1998 716,0 537,1% 123,8%
The proportion of concrete natural persons changed to include persons receiving large
remunerating amounts as authors from the Agency:
Remunerated owners of rights Honorary, paid to a right
owner 1995 1996 1997 1998
up to 50 MDL 807 774 671 1,000
50,1-250 MDL 74 329 408 587
250,1-550 MDL 33 94 138 234
550,1-1000 MDL 45 46 63 90
more than 1000 MDL - 67 94 122
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