105 years of the Intellectual Property Office
On the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the Intellectual Property Office, a conference under the title “Honoring innovators, creators and IP community” was held on November 25th 2025 at the Palace of the Serbian Army in Belgrade.
Introductory speeches were given by Vladimir Marić, Director of the Intellectual Property Office, Andreas von Beckerath, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, Bela Balint, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation and Adrijana Mesarović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Economy.
Reminding those present of the historical development of the Institution, Director Marić pointed out that today all administrative procedures at the Office are digitalized, all IP rights databases are on the website, 80% of applications and 60% of submissions to the Office come via the internet, and more than one third of submissions to parties are sent in digital form.
He emphasized that thanks to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union, the Office has a reconstructed building and exceptional working conditions. “For the Successful work of the Office and for the quality protection of IP rights in Serbia, cooperation with the key international organizations in this field, with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Organization and the European Union Intellectual Property Office is of great importance”, emphasized Director Marić.
Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Andreas von Beckerath, congratulated the Intellectual Property Office on its anniversary and stressed that the reform of the intellectual property sector is an important part of the European integration process. He emphasized that a strong intellectual property system is the basis for economic development, from attracting investments and supporting the digital and green transition, to turning research into opportunities for job creation, exporting and strengthening competitiveness. According to him, the European Union, as the largest donor and economic partner of Serbia, continues to support Serbia on its path to EU membership and has so far invested 90 million euros in the innovation sector with the aim of developing and improving a modern knowledge-based economy.
Bela Balint, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, congratulated on the 105th anniversary of the IPO founding and emphasized that the work of the IPO represents an investment in the future of Serbia as a modern and innovative technological state.
Adrijana Mesarović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Economy recognizes the full role of the IP in the economic development of Serbia. She underlined that in recent years, Serbia has been paying a lot of attention to its creative industries that relay on intellectual property. She reminded that, according to the report of the WIPO, small and medium-sized enterprises most often do not know that they own intellectual property, and even less do they know how much it is worth. The Ministry of Economy has previously participated in the drafting of some important regulations in the field of intellectual property.
The participants were also addressed by António Campinos, President of the European Patent Organization (EPO), Hasan Kleib, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Sandris Laganovskis, Director of the Cooperation and Partnership Sector of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Anne Lugon-Moulin, Ambassador of Switzerland in the Republic of Serbia, and via video message delivered by Shen Changyu, Commissioner, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).
The conference continued with panels on innovation and the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The second panel on the topic “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” was moderated by Tatjana Vlaisavljevic, judge of the Commercial Court of Appeal. The panel included: Dejan Milojevic, Criminal Police Directorate, Ministry of the Interior, Sandra Orač, Customs Directorate, Pavle Zelić, Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices ALIMS, Gordana Krstić, Public Prosecutor, Higher Public Prosecutor`s Office in Belgrade and Laura Vilches, Head of the European Affairs, La Liga.
The conference concluded with a program of awarding the World Intellectual Property Organization Prizes to the winners of the 2025 competition in 4 competition categories.
The conference was attended by numerous representatives of state institutions and organizations from Serbia, the EU delegation in Serbia, representatives of companies, startups, researchers, innovators and guests from 13 national intellectual property offices, international intellectual property organizations and the Project team.
To mark the anniversary, the IPO is also running a campaign under the slogan Creative. Protected. Yours. which aims to highlight the importance of intellectual property and raise awareness among the general public about the topic. The campaign is being implemented with the support of the project “EU Support for Internal Market" funded by the European Union.
