In all the regions of the country, there are hundreds of enterprises and organizations, which make use in their activities various company names, trademarks, inventions, software and other intellectual property objects. The trends observed in the global and national markets show that the intellectual property sphere will develop the economy of the Republic of Belarus at a faster growing pace. The development of the national system of protection of intellectual property rights is also promoted by the growing attention of the state to this sphere. This conclusion follows, in particular, from the analysis of the 2012-2020 Strategy of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Intellectual Property, which was approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of March 2, 2012, No. 205.
However, this pace of the progress in the sphere of intellectual property protection is constrained by a number of barriers. Both the normative-legal basis and the measures of the state support to the developing sphere of intellectual property that may become a powerful accelerator of the Belarusian economy need improvement. The solution of many problems is possible only under the consolidation of all the forces interested in the successful promotion of the efficient initiatives in defending and protecting the intellectual property. This is especially true in the context of Belarus' accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, which entails a number of specificities of trade among its members, increases the urgency of formulating and defending the collective interests of Belarusian businesses at the international level. It is the time for the business community and state structures to realize the commonality of goals and contribute, through consolidated efforts, to more efficient use of modern market instruments, one of the key among which is the intellectual property. The understanding of this important task has convinced us to establish the "BelBrand" Association for Intellectual Property Protection.
The Association is a voluntary union of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in activities in the sphere of their own production and sale of goods, of rendering services, sales of goods bearing famous foreign trademarks and brands, as well as in the sphere of execution of works and provision of services of protecting the intellectual property rights. The Association has undergone the state registration in the established order (Resolution of the Minsk City Executive Committee of 30.08.2010; the registration No. 191309736). Among the key activities of the Association are: to establish contacts with national, foreign and international organizations active in the sphere of protecting intellectual property rights and in related spheres; to represent the interests of the members of the Association in these organizations; to create a professional forum for debates on topical issues of intellectual property protection; and to defend the interests of businesses in drafting normative legal acts in the sphere of intellectual property at the national and international levels.