September 13, 2006
Embassy of the United States of America
Belgrade

U.S. Gives Grant to Serbian Intellectual Property Office

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency award a $465,857 grant today to the Serbian Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for technical assistance on the proposed Intellectual Property Office Operational and Organizational Technical Assistance Project in Serbia.

In a ceremony today at the Serbian Intellectual Property Office in Belgrade, Maria J. Andrews, Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, signed the grant on behalf of the U.S. Government. Professor Slobodan Markovic, Director General, signed on behalf of the Serbian Intellectual Property Office.

This project will address the most important issues to foster an environment that encourages national innovation and participate fully in regional and global trade. Under the grant, an American contractor will assist the IPO to build technical capacity and improve processes, while helping to establish the Office as a self-funded agency from fees of processing patent, trademark, copyright and related IPR applications.

The Technical Assistance Project will be performed in three parts:

1. Evaluate current operations and challenges and utilize available resources and prepared documents and studies, and work with the Serbian IPO (Grantee) to define the vision, mission, strategy, and revised operations, organization, budgeting plan and related action (transformation) plan to transition the IPO into a modern, efficient and effective institution for managing operational issues, effectively supporting its constituents, and initiating and implementing legal and regulatory legislation related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection in Serbia;
2. Assist the Grantee to gain approval from the appropriate governing authority to implement the recommended transformation plan;
3. Provide on-site support implementing the recommended and approved transformation plan.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USDTA) advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment. USTDA’s strategic use of foreign assistance funds to support sound investment policy and decision-making in host countries creates an enabling environment for trade, investment and sustainable economic development. In carrying out its mission, USTDA emphasizes economic sectors that may benefit from U.S. exports of goods and services.

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