Today, Irina Stepanova, a senior lawyer and head of the intellectual property practice at EPAM, spoke at the 2nd International Forum on Intellectual Property Expopriority-2010. The Forum, held from 7 to 9 December 2010, was organized by the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Expocentre under the auspices of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of Russia (ROSPATENT) and the World Intellectual Organization (WIPO).

As demonstrated at the exhibitions, research into international regulations on intellectual property (IP) protection has shown that they do not meet the needs of the time. The Forum is dedicated to developing steps, which are needed to solve this problem, and is designated to become a business platform for discussing the issues of legal protection, defense and commercialization of the intellectual property and identities. An important role of the Forum is to facilitate the expansion of the international cooperation in high-tech industry and innovation market development.

As part of the Forum, International Congress on Intellectual Property was held alongside a number of business program events and the International Exhibition of Innovations, meeting the governmental priorities of modernizing the economy. The Forum was also supported by regional and international specialized organizations and national patent offices, International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), Licensing Executives Society (LES), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), All-Russian Society of Inventors and Development Engineers (VOIR), as well as federal ministries and departments, major Russian and foreign companies, and financial institutions.

On December 8th, the Trade Mark Conference was held under the Forum business program. Representatives of governmental intellectual property organizations, advisors from leading law firm and patent attorneys discussed how to properly use terms related to intellectual property. They also discussed the specifics of Trade Mark protection in Russia and abroad, how franchise agreements are regulated under the Russian law and other matters. Irina Stepanova presented a paper on “Franchise Agreement and Related Agreements: Application in Russian Practice”.