The Department of Intellectual Property Law, an independent academic and research unit of Belarusian State University, was established by Rector’s Order № 381-OD on July 13, 2021.

The department’s first head was Associate Professor Diana V. Ivanova, PhD in Law. Since 2022 the Department has been headed by Associate Professor Elena A. Svadkovskaya, PhD in Law.

The Department is the first specialized structural unit within an educational institution in the Republic of Belarus that provides instruction, research, and methodological work in the field of intellectual property law.

At the Faculty of Law, Professor V.F. Chigir, Doctor of Law, Honored Jurist of the BSSR and author of numerous scholarly publications in the field of intellectual property, was the first to teach the standalone course «Intellectual Property Law». Professor V.N. Godunov, Doctor of Law, made a significant contribution to the creation and development of the Department.

The following courses are taught at the Department of Intellectual Property Law:

«Intellectual Property Law»;

« Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Management»;

«Exclusive Rights to Intellectual Property as a Type of Absolute Rights»;

«Аgreements on the Transfer of Rights to Intellectual Property»;

«Digital Rights in Сivil Сirculation».

For students of the second stage of higher education (Master’s program) the Department offers the following courses:

«Copyright and Related Rights»;

«Industrial Property Law»;

«Resolution of Intellectual Property Disputes».

Students of the English-language Master’s program study:

«International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights»;

«Copyright in the Digital Sphere»;

«Industrial Property Law: Patents and Trademarks».

The Department provides the course «Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Management» for students of 11 BSU faculties: Faculty of Biology; Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics; Faculty of Journalism; Faculty of History; Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics; Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Informatics; Faculty of Radiophysics and Computer Technologies; Faculty of Sociocultural Communications; Faculty of Philology; Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences; and Faculty of Chemistry. The course is also taught to students of the Republican Institute of Confucius China Studies.

Teaching load for the Department’s courses are covered by: Professor Yan I. Funk, Doctor of Law; Associate Professor Elena A. Svadkovskaya, PhD in Law; Associate Professors Valeriy K. Sidorchuk, Konstantin K. Urzhinskiy, and Oleg O. Yadrevskiy, PhDs in Law; PhD in Law Grigoriy A. Lysakovsky; PhD in Law Yuri V. Nechepurenko; senior lecturers Alexander A. Mazanik, Anastasia I. Nadolskaya, Olga V. Nikiforova, Elena N. Senozhatskaya, Yuliya V. Urbanovich, and Andrey I. Shevando; lecturers Elena D. Logvinovich and Artem O. Tkach; and trainee teachers Anastasia I. Korotchenko, Anton S. Mozol, and Yegor D. Sedelnik.

Judges Raisa V. Kozorezova and Konstantin N. Kharitonyuk of the Judicial Board for Intellectual Property of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus hold a special place among the Department’s teaching staff.

The Department places considerable emphasis on preparing teaching materials and scholarly publications in intellectual property law: course programs are developed for all courses taught by the Department, and work is underway on practical manuals and educational materials.

Department staff actively employ innovative teaching methods and information and communication technologies in the educational process, including creating, uploading, and updating course content on the BSU educational portal and using other e-learning tools.

Since 2021 the Department has successfully operated a student scientific club «Intellectual Property Law».

Department staff conduct scholarly research; the results are published in various academic publications, including monographs and the scientific-practical journal «Intellectual Property in Belarus».

Under the Memorandum of Cooperation between the National Intellectual Property Center and Belarusian State University, the Department participates in the promotion and dissemination of knowledge in the field of intellectual property, exchanges experience, and implements best practices in intellectual property education; joint scientific-practical events are organized within this framework.

Department faculty are actively involved in improving legislation in the areas of copyright and related rights and industrial property law, and they closely cooperate with the National Intellectual Property Center, the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, and the National Center for Legislation and Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus. E.A. Svadkovskaya, Y.V. Nechepurenko, and O.V. Nikiforova have served as members of working groups for drafting and amending normative legal acts, including the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus and the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On Copyright and Related Rights», and in the development of Intellectual Property Policy for higher education institutions and research organizations of the Republic of Belarus.

Within the framework of international cooperation, Department faculty give lectures at universities in the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, peer-review the work of foreign colleagues, are invited as experts by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and participate in international forums, conferences, and seminars.