The IP Office team, in collaboration with scientists and the professional community, developed a draft law on intangible assets subject to sanctions. Mykola Pototskyi, the adviser to the director of the IP Office, spoke about its norms during the IX International Intellectual Property Forum (IPF-2023).
"The draft law, which the IP Office has developed in joint efforts with scientists and the public, should solve the urgent issues of sanctioned intangible assets because, to date, there is only a Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers by which we impose a moratorium on such actions. We have provided several blocks of norms in our draft law, which regulate relations related to conducting an examination and taking actions related to the disposal of such rights to objects that belong to persons associated with the aggressor state. We evaluate and propose to consider such actions as legal acts that contradict the interests of the state, society, and its moral principles," explained Mykola Pototskyi.
According to the adviser to the director of the IP Office, there are several options for what happens with applications for sanctioned intangible assets. They are considered revoked since such a legal act is deemed null and void. It is possible to challenge already issued protection documents based on such a condition in a court of law.
It is proposed to make a separate exception related to the extension of validity for the relevant IP objects since such objects can be transferred to the benefit of the state so that this property can become a source of income and compensation for the state of Ukraine in the future. That is, the validity of the rights can be supported, and legal acts can be committed which are related exclusively to the transfer of these objects in the order established by law for the benefit of the state of Ukraine.
PracticalTalk. "War&IP" with the participation of Mykola Pototsky, advisor to the director of the IP Office, within the framework of IPF-2023
Concerning objects belonging to persons under sanctions, we should talk about the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions," which defines sanctions that may, in one way or another, relate to IPR.
"These are such types of sanctions as the blocking of assets and the prohibition of the transfer of technologies or IPR. Concerning blocking, we believe that applications related to sanctioned persons, which our office reviews, may fall under this sanctions model. Accordingly, when we receive the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine put into effect by the Presidential Decree, we block all actions related to such objects with such applications and protection documents. Furthermore, for this information to become publicly available and public, we have provided in our special information systems a possibility for any interested person to check whether there is a certain IPR object, whether it relates to the relevant objects that have been transferred to the management of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA)," stressed Mykola Pototskyi.
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05 April 2023