As a joint initiative of AmCham member companies, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Committee was established in 2004 with the goal of improving the status of intellectual property rights in Serbia. Over the following years, the Committee has established close cooperation with key Government and public institutions and accomplished significant results in various aspects of IPR.

2009

• On October 28-29, AmCham organized  7th Annual Confernce on IPR. Participants  have agreed that a clear political consensus at all levels is necessary for the protection of rights in this area, as well as advancement of cooperation among state bodies in regard to the implementation of the existing regulations. (Click here for conclusions of the Conference in Serbian language.)
• The IPR Committee hosted a Press Conference "Protecting IPR in Challenging Economic Times" highlighting the importance of strengthened IPR protection and enforcement, especially with a view to retaining foreign direct investment as well as having a significant impact on increasing budget revenues. (Click her for photo gallery.)

2008

• A 6^th Annual Regional IPR Conference was held at Ohrid, Macedonia, organized jointly by AmCham Serbia and AmCham Macedonia, with key government stakeholders from the region taking advantage of presentations on IPR and sharing best practices in enforcement.

2007

• The IPR Committee, in association with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), began training over 1,000 tax inspectors to detect unlicensed software, which is vital for the thorough implementation of the IPR Enforcement Law;
• After close cooperation with the IPR Committee, the Serbian Tax Administration launched a public-relations campaign informing taxpayers of its authority according to the Law on Special Powers for Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property Rights to check for licensed software, and also commenced cracking down on offenders;
• The IPR Committee organized its 5^th Annual Regional IPR Conference.

2006

• The IPR Committee participated in drafting the Law on Special Powers for Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR Enforcement Law), and the preparation of the Draft Law on Trade Secrets and the Draft Optical Discs Law;
• In the area of public education and capacity building, the Committee organized or participated in a number of events (including training for the inspectors of Serbia's Republic Market Inspectorate and for police officers, prosecutors and judges in Zrenjanin);
• The Committee hosted a Conference on IPR protection in Babe, Serbia, in order to discuss practical implementation of legislation and to provide an opportunity for key government counterparts to learn more about the best practices for fighting IPR infringement.

2005

• The Committee hosted IPR Conferences in Palić, Serbia, and in Cetinje, Montenegro, with key Government stakeholders in IPR enforcement.
• Members of an IPR sub-committee were invited to work with the Ministry of Culture on IPR-related issues and questions.
• The Ministry of Culture formally invited a US company (represented on the IPR Committee) to be included in the Ministry's activities related to IPR issues.
• The Ministry of International Economic Relations formally requested AmCham's views on new draft legislation, in particular the draft Law on Special Permissions for the Efficient Protection of Intellectual Property.

2004

• Prior to becoming a Committee, the IPR Task Force organized, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, a very successful Conference in Belgrade: "IPR Protection--From legislation to implementation".