ЕКОНОМСКА ПЕРСПЕКТИВА НА ИНТЕЛЕКТУАЛНАТА СОПСТВЕНОСТ ВО ЗЕМЈОДЕЛСКО-ПРЕХРАНБЕНИОТ СЕКТОР ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR

Abstract

The negotiations of the Republic of Macedonia to join the European Union imposed an established strong system of intellectual property and their implementation in practice. Although the country has had a progress in the harmonization of the legal system, still there is low awareness of the economic benefits of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR), particularly in the agri-food sector. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the importance of IPR protection and experience of some Balkan and EU countries in terms of IPR enforcement, with particular reference to agro- food sector. The situation regarding IPR protection varies considerably in different countries. In Republic of Macedonia, the interest in protecting different IPR is related to the structure of production capacity. The previous experience in the domestic market shown that usually the larger and more successful agri - food enterprises pay more attention to the protection of IPR, thus constantly investing in marketing and product differentiation. Small enterprices often faced financial barriers and low budgets allocated for marketing and therefore the commitment to IPR is commonly viewed as an investment that engages additional costs.