Russia to create intellectual property service - Medvedev
MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree creating a federal intellectual property service, he said on Tuesday.
"I would like to inform you that today I have signed a decree to set up a new federal service for intellectual property to which Rospatent (the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks) and FAPRID (the Federal Agency on Intellectual Property Protection) will transfer their competences," Medvedev told a government meeting.
A good track record in intellectual property protection is one of the conditions required for admission to the World Trade Organization. Russia, the largest economy still outside the global trading bloc, has been trying to join the WTO for 17 years and has often been accused of copyright violations, especially by the US.
Russia complains it is being held to a higher standard on intellectual property rights enforcement in the WTO talks than earlier entrants, such as China.
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