The AmCham Montenegro IPR Committee organized and co-sponsored a conference addressing the protection of copyrights. Participating in the conference were the Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica, Mr. Douglas Jones, Deputy Minister of Economy, Mr. Zoran Perišić, and Ms. Dawn Adie-Baird from the Delegation of the EU in Montenegro.

In her introductory remarks, AmCham Montenegro President, Ms. Svetlana Vuksanovic, stressed that vigorously protecting intellectual property serves the national interests of Montenegro by increasing tax revenues and protecting consumers.

The conference concluded that the protection of intellectual property in Montenegro has increased, but that there is still a need to take further measures to ensure full protection of intellectual property rights.  The Conference supported the following:

• Education and raising awareness of citizens, government institutions and businesses about the importance of intellectual property and its contribution to economic, cultural and social progress;

• Establishing an active and coherent policy and legislative insistence on proactive measures for better implementation of existing regulations in the field of intellectual property protection;

• Support existing and new construction of institutional and human capacity to effectively implement the regulations in the field of intellectual property protection;

• Exchange of information, cooperation and teamwork based on the interaction of institutions that will consolidate the current enthusiasm and efforts of individuals;

• Cooperation at the international level, the adoption and implementation of recommendations of best practices from other countries in order to create a business environment in which the degree of protection of intellectual property to economic competitiveness of Montenegro.