PRESS RELEASE

The Administrative Board (AB) of the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI) held its first meeting on Monday, 14 December, 2015 at the Permanent Mission of Hungary in Geneva, Switzerland.

The AB of the VPI is composed of the Representatives and the alternate Representatives of the Contracting States of the Agreement on the Visegrad Patent Institute, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland and the Slovak Republic.

Prior to the meeting, the Presidents of the Industrial Property Offices of the Visegrad countries had been appointed by the respective authorities as Representatives in the AB. All of them were present at this first meeting, which took place just one day after the Agreement on the Visegrad Patent Institute had entered into force and where decisions of key importance were taken.

The AB unanimously adopted its Rules of Procedure.

The Chairpersons of the AB were elected for the next four years, as follows:

• Mr Josef Kratochvíl, Representative of the Czech Republic from 14 December 2015 to 31 December 2016;
• Mr Ľuboš Knoth, Representative of the Slovak Republic from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017;
• Ms Alicja Adamczak, Representative of the Republic of Poland from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018;
• Mr Miklós Bendzsel, Representative of Hungary from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

The AB of the VPI appointed Mr. Márk Nándor Gárdonyi as Director of the VPI for a period starting on 15 December 2015 and ending on 30 June 2016.

An exchange of views also took place on the draft text of the Implementing Regulations to the Agreement on the Visegrad Patent Institute.

Following the closure of the meeting, the Agreement between the Visegrad Patent Institute and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization in relation to the functioning of the Visegrad Patent Institute as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty was signed by the Representatives in the AB and Mr Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO. This Agreement will be published in due course after completing all the necessary formalities.