D.Gankhuyag: Intellectual Property in Mongolia has the potential to reach global markets
-When we think about Intellectual Property, the first thing that comes to mind is compositions such as songs, poems and lyrics. How knowledgeable are Mongolians about registering trademarks?
-In the last five years, the concept of protecting Intellectual Property has been developing in Mongolia. In terms of the Accredited Agency of Intellectual Property, our organization represents both foreign and domestic citizens and entities and is in charge of conducting all activities on behalf of foreign and Mongolian people. Our agency was established in 1993 and has been operating for 19 years. Initially we operated only for foreigners. Until 2000, Mongolian entities and business organizations didn’t understand clearly the significance of intellectual property, thus there were barely any people who required our services. But starting from 2003 domestic bodies started to increasingly make records on trademarksFor example, one type of the intellectual property, trademark, which is included in industry property, went from 5000 or 7000 in 2005, to 22 thousand in Mongolia today. The majority of these trademarks are domestic. In particular small scale entities tend to obtain their own trademark, to identify their products among products of other entities. The number of people and entities who are using our Accredited Intellectual Property Agency is increasing day by day. However, although they now know about the significance of intellectual property, they have poor knowledge about what kinds of materials are needed to make a patent and about product classification. Moreover, lately the amount of new creations and useful designs have been registered more frequently.
-It seems that while people have started to protect their intellectual property, conflicts related to intellectual property have also increased?
-It is a common occurrence that protected intellectual property is often used by others. It is obvious that if a person didn’t protect his or her intellectual property, that person has no rights to litigate when someone uses their intellectual property. As I mentioned above, there are people who use intellectual property not knowing that it was protected, while some people use intellectual property intentionally, by modifying or copying it. In this case, the owner of the intellectual property can appeal in court.
-What punishment and bans follow intellectual property theft?
-At first, the conflict should be resolved by appealing to the investigation department of the Intellectual Property Agency. For instance, if conflict is detected in trademarks, state officials of the intellectual property investigate the case and destroys or turns the contradictory commodities into state property. If patent holders view that this operation is enough, the case is closed. If patent holders suffer from financial disadvantages such as a decrease in income or an income block, the offender will be fined and will pay compensation.
Thus, when individuals or entities import new products or commodities, they should examine whether the product has patent protection or not, by searching in the trademark database of Intellectual Property Office.
Otherwise the patent holder may submit a complaint to the court and demand a large compensation.
-You said that there are a number of new creations added to the Intellectual Property Register. What kind of creations are they?
-I attended the competition “Young inventor” as an assistant judge, which was initiated by Mongolian National Television. I saw many new inventions. So I granted design patents for 25 inventions, which competed in the last stage. It is important for young inventors that they become the owners of their inventions, rather than receiving an award. Interested individuals or entities can then use the inventions in accordance with a contract or even offer to buy the invention. Intellectual property is an intangible asset.
Patent holders have full rights to evaluate their creations profit potential. There is no limit in the evaluation. Patents of brand new creations are valid for 20 years and design patents are valid for 7 years. If the creation is really beneficial, it attracts many investments to the holder of the patent.
-It is believed that Mongolians have talent to invent new devices and that they can be strong competitors in the technology field. Have you registered any inventions that can compete on the global market?
-Brand new creations with extraordinary design have been registered in our agency. They are the creations of Mongolian engineers for technical solutions. But one problem that stops our inventors from registering in the world intellectual office is the price. For example, China is the leading country in the world with a patent cooperation agreement that was made with the world intellectual organization. This is because the Chinese government grants monetary rewards when its citizens get registered in the world intellectual property organization. Thus, many creations are able to be delivered to the World intellectual organization from China.
We have developed a national intellectual property strategy and it is almost ready. I am working as a member of this project. If the government supports and includes it in the action plan, many great creations can be presented to the world from Mongolia.
-What is the significance in registering the creations in the world intellectual property organization?
-There are two important consequences in presenting new creation to the world. Firstly, foreign currency will be brought into Mongolia if foreign companies will buy the creation patents. Secondly, when I attend a meeting in various countries, statistics is frequently discussed. Although there is no patent registered in the world intellectual property, Mongolia ranks high in terms of intellectual potential.
-In terms of industrial intellectual property, are entity names registered as such?
-According to the Paris convention, entity names are protected by intellectual property. Initially, the Intellectual property Office granted patents or certificates for entity names until 2003. But now it is given by the State Registration Agency.
-What if someone imports products with a copied trademark from overseas? Is this a concern of your organization?
-Of course this issue is our concern. For example, the Chinese copy of ADIDAS brand sneakers are brought to Mongolia with the name “Abidas”. If Adidas makes a complaint about replicas, we will take measurements, until then we have no legal motive to abolish the replicas. If the patent owner is registered in Mongolia and approaches our organization that their patent is being illegally used by others, we will investigate.
-You said that you started to communicate with foreigners when Mongolians had poor knowledge about intellectual property. Was the reason was same as above?
-The first complaint was made in 2006 from South Korean LG company. LG did not produce one time shampoo, but some people in Mongolia were selling it packaged as one-time use shampoo. Two delegations from South Korea came to Mongolia and asked us to solve this issue. On the basis of the complaint, we took appropriate measures.
-How clear is the legal environment in Mongolia on the protection of intellectual property?
-There are three basic laws related with intellectual property such as laws on patent, trademark and geology.
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