Meeting of the Visegrad Four (V4) and Friends in Prague

From May 26 to 28, 2026, the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic hosted the presidential level meeting of the intellectual property (IP) offices of the Visegrad Four and Friends countries in Prague. The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) was represented by Ms Dóra Gyetvainé Virág, Vice-President and Mr Csaba Baticz, Chief Advisor to the President.⁣ 

The traditional professional partnership between the IP offices of the V4 countries, which has developed within the framework of the Visegrad Cooperation - in place since 1991 - remains strong. For many years now, IP offices of Friend countries have also been invited to the meetings, which are held twice a year.

In Prague, the representatives from the Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian, Austrian, Romanian, and Slovenian partner offices discussed key issues related to domestic, European and international developments in the field of IP. They addressed legislative developments in the European Union, particularly the proposals on Unitary SPCs, and exchanged views on cooperation with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The agenda of the V4 meeting also included the most important issues concerning the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI). The VPI, established by the four countries as an intergovernmental organization and represented at the negotiations by Director Johanna Stadler, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of starting operation this year. Since 1 July 2016, the VPI has been performing international search and preliminary examination tasks under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Its services facilitate obtaining patent protection abroad and entry into international markets for innovative enterprises, universities, research institutes, and individual inventors in Central and Eastern Europe.

 Photos: Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic