Ukrainian IP Office started to issue all the certificates in electronic format only in 2025
Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations (IP Office) issued certificates for trademarks, patents, and other IP objects in electronic format only.
This rule applies to both newly filed applications and protection documents granted for filed applications in previous years.
The certificate in paper form may be issued upon the additional request for the applications, which were filed for registration in paper form only.
Eurasian Patent Office increases fees from February 2025
The Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) will increase the official fees by 20% for filing and expertise of the applications for Eurasian patents.
In particular, the official fee, which is nominated in rubles, for filing increases from 50 thousand (~510 USD) to 60 thousand (~615 USD). The same is applied to substantive expertise requests for applications with a single independent claim. The fee for the expertise of the second claim will cost 35 thousand instead of 30 thousand before it.
The cost of a patent grant increases to 40 thousand from 30 thousand as it was before.
Still, taking into account the devaluation of the exchange rate of the ruble to the US dollar by more than 15% from Summer 2024, the current increase of the official fees returns the amount of official fees calculated in USD almost to the same levels as in mid-2024.
The number of trademark lawsuits increased 4 times in 2024 in Kazakhstan
In 2024, 447 trademark-related lawsuits were filed in civil courts in Kazakhstan, which is a record number in the last 10 years and almost 4 times more than in 2023.
Such a sharp increase can be considered anomalous since previously the dynamics remained relatively stable. The only exception was in 2016, when the number of lawsuits tripled, but even then the figure was only 36 cases.
Against the background of the total number of registered trademarks in the country — 67.4 thousand — the current level of lawsuits remains low. By law, the protection of trademark rights begins with the filing of a complaint with the Appeals Board of the Ministry of Justice, and only 22% of unappealed decisions reach the court. Based on this, the total number of complaints in 2024 can be estimated at approximately two thousand.
Also, in addition to civil law, administrative and criminal liability is provided for violation of rights to intellectual property objects.
Under Article 158 of the Administrative Code (illegal use of another's trademark), the number of registered offenses increased by 3.4 times, to 297 cases.
However under Articles 198 and 222 of the Criminal Code (violation of rights to inventions, trademarks, etc.), the registration of offenses remained at the previous minimum level.
The number of claims for copyright protection increased by 32% compared to 2023 (343 cases), and the number of claims regarding other intellectual property objects increased by 220%, reaching 215 cases.
