The European Commission noted some level of Ukraine’s preparation in the field of intellectual property law, as well as starting publishing by the Ukrainian IP Office consolidated data on IP enforcement.

This is stated in European Commission Report on Ukraine's Progress in the framework of the European Union's Enlargement Package 2024, published on October 30, 2024.

The Report emphasizes that the National Intellectual Property Authority (Ukrainian IP Office) has developed a closer collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), with which it works on the basis of the Work Plan signed in October 2023.

The IP Office is also actively involved in the EU projects, including the EU-funded EU4IP project since March 2024.

The European Commission noted that Ukraine has taken some steps to implement the recommendations from the 2023 Report as part of the Enlargement Package. At the same time, the main recommendations remain relevant for the next period.

Ukraine, in particular, has to:

• continue to adapt to EU legislation on copyright and related rights, industrial property and trade secrets;
   
• improve the functioning of collective management organizations and the payment of royalties to rights holders;
   
• continue to improve the system of industrial property rights protection, in particular by combating piracy and counterfeit products, ensuring the functioning of the Intellectual Property Court and strengthening cooperation with the EUIPO.

With regard to the national legislation amendments, the European Commission drew attention to the bylaws adopted to implement the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights” adopted on December 1, 2022, and noted the need for further alignment with the EU acquis in particular regarding the term of protection for copyright and related rights, the distribution of a fair remuneration between performers and producers of phonograms, the reproduction right and the rights of the broadcasting organizations.

At the same time, the European Commission emphasized the need to improve legislation on industrial property, in particular:

• alignment of the Law on patents and some of its implementing rules, including on the patentability;
• alignment of Ukraine’s trademarks legislation with the EU acquis;
• legislative changes to align with the trade secrets directive.

With regard to the IP rights enforcement, the European Commission stated that the shortcomings vis-à-vis combating piracy and counterfeit products remain unaddressed. At the judicial level the IP Court remains non-operational, pending decision to restart competitions for filling the vacant positions of its judges.

Since the Report covers the period from June 15, 2023 to September 1, 2024, it does not reflect one of the key bylaws in the IP sphere - the Rules for Registration of Trademarks and the Rules for Registration of Inventions (Utility Models), which are aimed at implementing EU standards. This was emphasized by Olena Orliuk, Director of the IP Office, noting:

“The IP Office makes great efforts to develop the intellectual property field and its legal support. The next year will be devoted to the active development of IP legislation and its harmonization with the EU acquis as gaining the full membership in the EU is a strategic goal of Ukraine. And work on improving the legislation has already begun. The full scope of work in this area will be known after bilateral meetings with the European Commission in December 2024.”

For information

This report covers the period from June 15, 2023 to September 1, 2024. It is based on data from a variety of sources, including materials from the Government of Ukraine, EU Member States, reports from the European Parliament, and information from various international and non-governmental organizations. It also includes the results of comparative assessments and indices prepared by other stakeholders, particularly in the area of the rule of law.

The report uses the following grading scale to describe the state of play: early stage, some level of preparation, medium level of preparation, good level of preparation, and high level of preparation.

The following scale is used to describe the progress made during the reporting period: regression, no progress, limited progress, some progress, good progress and very good progress where appropriate, intermediate steps are also used.

Read also:

• IPR Dialogue 2024: Ukraine briefs the European Commission on the main achievements of the IP sphere
• Meeting between representatives of the Ukrainian IP Office and EPO: harmonisation of practices and preparation for screening
• EU-UA: first day of the simulation session of the bilateral meeting between Ukraine and the European Commission on intellectual property rights
• Simulation session of the bilateral meeting between Ukraine and the European Commission: focus on copyright

During the 13th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, the Ukrainian delegation called for an end to attempts to legitimize the russian occupation of the territories of Ukraine and opposed the introduction of the russian language in the Hague system. The session lasted from 21 to 23 October 2024.

In her opening remarks, WIPO Deputy Director General, Mrs. Binying Wang drew attention to the improvement of the quality, accessibility and uniformity of the Hague System for its users. The speech also highlighted the significant progress in the development of the system, the impact of digitalization and digitization, as well as the positive dynamics of statistical data in 2023 - an increase in the number of filings by 7.4% compared to the previous year and further maintenance of this trend in 2024.

In 2025, the international community will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hague System, take stock of the results, assess the challenges and further areas for improvement.

WIPO Deputy Director General Ms. Wang Binying

Ukrainian delegation calls to stop attempts to legitimize russian occupation

Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office, who joined the meeting online, emphasized the devastating consequences of the russian federation's aggressive war against Ukraine for the intellectual property sphere, creative and innovative sectors and economy, which continue to deepen.

“Since 2022, the enemy has launched more than 1,000 attacks on energy infrastructure. russian missile and drone strikes have already destroyed 9,2 GW of generation capacity, while the peak energy consumption in Ukraine last winter was 18 GW. The russians are continuing to destroy Ukraine's cultural heritage on a scale unseen since World War II. They have already damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 objects of cultural infrastructure. UNESCO estimates the total cost of the damage to Ukraine's cultural and tourism sectors over the past 2 years at nearly 3.5 billion USD” – noted Bogdan Paduchak.

First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office, Bogdan Paduchak

Emphasizing the need to introduce effective measures to implement this year's decision of the 65th WIPO General Assembly and to ensure respect for the principle of territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, Bogdan Paduchak called for stopping the actions of the aggressor country, which “is deliberately trying to legitimize its military occupation, including by providing false information about the addresses of applicants from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine through global IP services such as the Hague system”.

Ukraine's application was supported:

• Moldova - on behalf of the CEBS group;
• The Netherlands - on behalf of Group B;
• Hungary - on behalf of the EU.

In particular, the representative of Moldova, condemning the unlawful bloody actions of the russian federation, emphasized:

“The number of designs contained in international applications with the designation of Ukraine reached 1717 designs contained in 496 applications in 2023 – the lowest figure ever according to WIPO statistics database. These alarming numbers are being presented over and over again during each dedicated WIPO session, reflecting not only the unprecedented damage to the infrastructure serving scientific, educational, research, and cultural institutions, but more importantly, the loss of potential and capacity within Ukraine’s IP ecosystem”.

The agenda of the Working Group meeting includes discussion of the following issues:

• Priority Documents in the Context of the Hague System (document H/LD/WG/13/2);
   
• Topical Aspects Relating to the Development of the Hague System (document H/LD/WG/13/3): applications containing multiple classes; division of such multi-class international applications into national applications; methods of representing industrial designs;
   
• Proposal for Amendments to the Administrative Instructions (document H/LD/WG/13/4);
   
• Proposal from the Delegation of China concerning the possibility of introducing the Chinese language into the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Design (document H/LD/WG/13/5).

On the possible introduction of new languages of the Hague system

The agenda item on the possible introduction of new languages, in particular the proposal of the Chinese delegation on the possibility of introducing Chinese into the list of official languages of the Hague system (document H/LD/WG/13/5), provoked a lively discussion.

russia supported the proposal and indicated its readiness to discuss and update information in favor of the official use of the russian language in the Hague system.

The delegations of Group B, CEBS, France, and the United States called for a more detailed analysis of the criteria used to determine the feasibility of introducing a language into the Hague system and expressed reservations, as stated in document H/LD/WG/12/8, regarding the need for a more detailed study of the technical, organizational and financial implications of such actions.

“The delegation of Ukraine would like highlight that the complexity of managing additional languages raises concerns about the efficiency and accuracy of the system, particularly in terms of translation quality and the potential strain on resources. The introduction of new languages should be based on a well-balanced and gradual, inclusive approach, clear criteria grounded on objective data, and such criteria should ensure that the benefits of introducing a new language outweigh any possible disadvantages. For the time being, delegation of Ukraine would like to reiterate our strong opposition to the idea of introducing russian into the Hague System”, - said Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office.

The discussion resulted in the rejection of proposals promoting the introduction of the russian language into the Hague system, a decision to take into account the concerns of member states, including Ukraine, on this issue and to continue the discussion at the next sessions, requesting the WIPO International Bureau to prepare updated statistical and project materials.

The IP Office has issued the first copyright certificates for works that include images created by artificial intelligence (AI).

Image collection “Easter cards”

Thus, the IP Office carried out the state copyright registration and issued a copyright certificate for the composite work – a collection of images “Easter cards”, where images generated by a computer program were used. The compiler of the images collection “Easter Cards” is Margarita Boyko.

“Today, the use of generative AI is considered to be a new tool for the creative industry development, but not only just like a threat to authors and the industry”, – noted Liubov Maidanyk, Deputy Director of the IP Office.

Ukrainian legislation provides copyright protection only to images created by humans.

“If images are created only using AI-generative platforms, – copyright does not arise. At the same time, the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights” makes it possible to define sui generis rights to such images”, - added Liubov Maidanyk.

Children's book and poems collection with illustrations

In addition, the IP Office carried out the state registration of copyrights and issued certificates for a children's book and poems collection illustrated with AI-generated images. These are children's book “The Enchanted Adventure of Rufus” by Anna Khorolska and collection “Poems of an Unfinished War” by Andriy Sitnikov.

“Nowadays, generative AI is becoming an assistant in creating illustrations for various works. At the same time, copyright applies only to that part which is created by a person”, – emphasized the Deputy Director of the IP Office.

Read also:

• New trademark registration rules came into force
• New rules for the registration of geographical indications in Ukraine, adapted to EU regulations, came into force

As part of the official screening on the Ukrainian legislation compliance with EU acquis under negotiating Chapter 7: “Intellectual Property Law”, a mock session of the bilateral meeting between Ukraine and the European Commission to assess the Ukrainian legislation compliance with the EU acquis was launched on September 25, 2024.

The purpose of the mock session is to prepare Ukrainian negotiators for further meetings with the European Commission.

The first day of the mock session was devoted to industrial property rights and enforcement.

Opening the session, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Vitaliy Kindrativ expressed his gratitude to the experts involved, the team of the EU-funded EU4IP project, and colleagues from EUIPO and EPO for their invaluable support of Ukraine's European integration efforts, providing the necessary tools and constant experience exchange for further national intellectual property practices’ approximation to the European ones.

According to him, the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine recently submitted Ukraine's second report to the European Commission as part of the EU's 2024 Enlargement Package. The document contains about 900 pages, and 140 government agencies took part in its drafting. Vitaliy Kindrativ noted that almost every day there are meetings with European colleagues, activities to approximate practices, preparation of acts to implement the EU acquis, and, most importantly, measures to support our people and businesses.

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine was also represented by Inna Shatova, Deputy Head of the Intellectual Property and Innovations Department, Head of the IP State Policy Department.

The IP office was presented at the mock session by:

• Olena Orliuk, Director
• Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director;
• Vladyslav Bilotskyi, Deputy Director;
• Liubov Maidanyk, Deputy Director;
• Mykola Pototskyi, Advisor to the Director;
• Heads of the relevant structural units.

In addition, representatives of ministries, the judiciary, law enforcement and other government agencies took part in the mock session.

During the first day, there were presented a series of presentations on various topics:

• trademarks;
   
• industrial designs;
   
• craft and industrial geographical indications;
   
• patents (inventions and utility models), including unitary patents;
   
• enforcement of IPRs; implementation of Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, administrative and enforcement capacity in the IP sphere;
   
• fighting corruption in the IP sphere.

These issues were presented by Bogdan Paduchak. The issue of compulsory licensing, in turn, was presented by Lesya Ukrainets, Head of the International Cooperation and European Integration Department of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Rovena Beqiraj, Drita Abdiu-Halili, Romas Svedas, as well as colleagues from the European IP offices - EUIPO and EPO - acted as experts to provide feedback and recommendations to the negotiating parties.

The mock session will continue tomorrow, September 26, and will focus on copyright, related rights, and semiconductor products layouts.

The event was organized with the support of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Reform Support Team (RST) of the Ministry of Economy.
 

Read also:

• The country’s accession to the EU – practical issues for the IP office discussed Bogdan Paduchak during the meeting with the representatives of the Polish Patent Office
• Preparation of IP sphere for negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU – meeting of the IP Office with the EU Delegation to Ukraine

On September 18, 2024, the Rules for drafting, filing a trademark application, an application for international trademark registration and examination of the trademark application, international trademark registration with an extension to Ukraine came into force. This document was approved by the Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine No. 19889 dated August 6, 2024.

What is a trademark? A trademark is a designation that individualizes goods and services and helps to distinguish them in the market from similar goods and services of competitors. Registration of a trademark grants exclusive property rights to it. This means that only the owner of a registered trademark can use and dispose of it.

It is possible to obtain legal protection of a trademark in Ukraine under the national procedure by filing an application for trademark registration within the IP office or under the international procedure in accordance with the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement. At the same time, filing an international trademark application within the Madrid system at the Ukrainian IP office helps the applicant to save money and effort in obtaining trademark legal protection in foreign countries.

“The adoption of the new Trademark Registration Rules is an important step towards modernizing the intellectual property legal framework in Ukraine. Updating the regulations brings us closer to European standards. This opens up new opportunities for Ukrainian producers in international markets. Especially important is the introduction of an electronic filing system that simplifies and speeds up the registration process. These changes will help Ukrainian entrepreneurs not only to consolidate their positions in the domestic market, but also to effectively enter international markets, protecting their brands on a global scale”, - said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Vitaliy Kindrativ.

“The process of IP bylaws harmonization with the EU legislation is ongoing. At the same time, the new rules not only contain the provisions of European acts, but also optimize the procedure for registering trademarks in Ukraine, which are among the most popular intellectual property rights. And this is crucial for business development in the context of global competition and Ukraine's accession to the EU”, - emphasized Olena Orliuk, Director of the IP Office.
 

The Order of the Ministry of Economy regulates in detail:

 

• requirements to the application materials;
   
• application filling procedure;
   
• the procedure of the trademark application examination;
   
• grounds for refusal of trademark registration;
   
• the procedure for filing and examining an international trademark application and a request for territorial extension under the Madrid system;
   
• peculiarities of examination of the international trademark registration with extension to Ukraine and other actions provided for by the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement.
   

The Rules also cover the following issues:
 

• registration aspects of specific trademarks - sound, positional, ornamental, motion, holographic, multimedia, colour and combination of colours;
   
• filing and examination of an electronic trademark application;
   
• the procedure for verifying the fact that special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) have been applied to the applicant or the applicant's state, as well as the legal consequences of the sanctions implementation;
   
• the procedure for refusing the trademark registration if the applicant is a person associated with the aggressor state.
   

Taking into account Ukraine's international and European integration obligations
 

New rules:

• comply with the provisions of the Singapore Treaty and the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement;
   
• implement the EU standards envisaged by the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement;
   
• take into account certain provisions of the Acquis communautaire, which is of great importance for European integration, as trademark registration is one of the main stages of promoting the Ukrainian manufacturers' products to European markets.

Read also:

• New rules for the registration of geographical indications in Ukraine, adapted to EU regulations, came into force
• The Rules for Drafting and Submitting Design Applications Entered into Force

During the meeting, Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the IP Office and representatives of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland focused on deepening bilateral cooperation between the Ukrainian and Polish IP offices and exchanged experiences on aligning legislation with the EU acquis.

Patent Office of the Republic of Poland was represented by:

• Ms. Edyta Demby-Siwek, President,
• Ms. Jagoda Janiak, Head of Foreign Affairs,
• Ms. Magdalena Wróbel Czarnecka, Head of the International Cooperation Department

The meeting took place on September 19, 2024, as part of the working visit of the Ukrainian IP office’s representative to Poland.

Bogdan Paduchak emphasized that following the approval of the Government of Ukraine’s Action Plan for implementing the European Commission’s recommendations, presented in the Ukraine Progress Report under the 2023 EU Enlargement Package, there has been intensified work to align our national legislation and practices with the EU acquis - a crucial condition for Ukraine's full EU membership. The Government Plan identifies 350 measures to implement the European Commission's recommendations, 14 of which relate to intellectual property.

“Ukraine has already submitted two reports to the EU Commision on national reforms, including under Chapter 7 “IP Law”. In October 2024, we expect a new progress report from the EU Commission, but the hard work certainly doesn’t end there. Constant discussion and support from our friends who have already undergone this path of European integration are invaluable”, - noted Bogdan Paduchak.

He added that preparations for the screening under Chapter 7 “Intellectual Property Rights” within the framework of Ukraine's accession to the EU is one of the priority issues for the Ukrainian IP office.

The President of the Polish IP Office, Edyta Dęmbi-Siwek, expressed her full support for Ukraine and the IP community in the context of the war, assuring further close cooperation and willingness to provide expert assistance to the Ukrainian IP sphere on its way to the EU. Bogdan Paduchak thanked all colleagues and friends from the Polish Patent Office for supporting Ukraine from the first days of the war.

Edita Demby-Sivek and Bohdan Paduchak
 

Key topics discussed during the meeting:

• Changes in national applicant activity after Poland’s accession to the EU.
   
• The approach to the examination of patents, trademarks, designs, and other IP rights before and after joining the EU.
   
• Protection of national and EU GIs, new EU regulations on Craft and Industrial GIs, and Ukraine's progressive practices in this area.
   
• Collaboration with the business community and stakeholders to support their adaptation to the EU IP rules.
   
• Organizational impacts of EU membership on the operations of the Polish Patent Office.
   
• Cooperation with EUIPO and EPO after Poland joined the EU and the EPC.
   
• How the professional landscape of patent attorneys has evolved since joining the EPC, and measures to support IP community during the EU integration process.
   
• Continued cooperation within World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO and CEBS Regional Group.
   
• Preparations for the upcoming DLT DipConf this November.

How to create an effective intellectual property portfolio for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? What are the opportunities for SMEs to collaborate with academic and research institutions? Finally, how can SMEs choose the best intellectual property strategy?

These issues were discussed at the International Conference on Intellectual Property Strategy for SMEs in a Competitive Marketplace held in Warsaw, Poland.

Organizers: the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the EU IP Office (EUIPO).

The conference brought together the Directors of the European and international IP institutions, national IP offices of the EU member states, academia and science, business and start-ups. The Ukrainian IP Office was represented at the international conference by the First Deputy Director Bogdan Paduchak.

According to him, participation in such a highly representative event is important as it allows better understanding the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the IP field and helps to develop effective strategies to support entrepreneurs.

“This also opens up opportunities for deepening cooperation with international partners, establishing communication with European specialized IP institutions and research institutions to facilitate the process of European integration and country's intellectual and innovative environment development”, - Bogdan Paduchak stated.

During the working visit to Poland, the First Deputy Director of the IP Office met with Ms. Mariana Karepova, European and International Affairs and Principal Advisor to the President, European Patent Office, to discuss actual issues of bilateral cooperation in the IP sphere and approximation of practices of the national and European offices.

Bogdan Paduchak expressed his gratitude for the patent search tools provided by the EPO and free advanced training courses from the EPO Academy for national patent examiners. He informed the EPO representative about the progress in the drafting of new rules for patent examination and guidelines for inventions and utility models.

In addition, they discussed the continuation of the EU acquis implementation in the field of patent law, the perspectives of practices approximation, as well as the state of unitary patent system functioning and the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court, which are on the agenda of discussions with the European Commission.

A specific discussion topic was the development of joint measures to support the professional IP community, in particular through access to EPO's training and educational resources.

Bogdan Paduchak also outlined the next steps of Ukraine, including the implementation of Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, updating the guidelines for examination (taking into account the EPO recommendations), improving the procedure for issuing certificates of additional protection, etc.

Photo: Patent Office of the Republic of Poland

Read also:

• The country’s accession to the EU – practical issues for the IP office discussed Bogdan Paduchak during the meeting with the representatives of the Polish Patent Office
• IP crime prosecution practices on a global level: IP Office as part of the Ukrainian delegation took part in the EIPPN workshop

The 11th annual meeting of the European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network (EIPPN), organized in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took place at the headquarters of WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the framework of the international technical assistance project “EU4IP: Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine” implementation, funded by the EU, the following Ukrainian representatives joined the international workshop:

• Oleksii Boniuk, Head of the Criminal Policy and Investment’s Protection Department, Office of the Prosecutor General;
• Oleksii Oliinyk, Head of Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor's Office;
• Anastasia Moheliuk, Leading Intellectual Property Professional, IP Office’s Intellectual Property Right’s Infringement Monitoring Center.

The EIPPN workshop brought together prosecutors and experts from Europe and around the world, including Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Armenia, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.

What did they meet for?

The EIPPN meetings support the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), which tackles the most serious threats posed by organized and serious international criminal groups affecting the European Union. EMPACT strengthens intelligence, strategic and operational cooperation between national authorities, EU institutions and bodies.

The main purpose of the EIPPN meeting is to focus on global experience in the prosecution of intellectual property crimes, support prosecutors working on IPR cases, and discuss the EMPACT International Intellectual Property Crime Investigation and Prosecution Handbook.

What was discussed?

Leading experts discussed issues related to the IP crimes prosecution, in particular:

• the importance of IP enforcement and building respect for IP;
• criminal legislative measures in serious and organized IP crime cases;
• calculation of damages in IP crime cases;
• trends and opportunities in crypto asset investigation;
• private sector perspective on IP crime prosecution.

Representatives of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (European Observatory) and the International Trademark Association (INTA) joined the event.

Such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Spain, Denmark, and the Dominican Republic shared their national experience in crime prosecution. There were also mentioned IP crimes prosecution related to the aggressor state of russia.