Ukraine has joined the EU's regional program for supporting intellectual property law sphere
The meeting of representatives of the National IP Office of Ukraine and the management of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) took place on October 23, 2023 in Kyiv.
Among the priorities of the meeting was the determination of short-term priorities necessary for Ukraine's accession to the EU.
The program, the purpose of which is to bring the field of intellectual property law of candidate countries closer to EU standards, is designed for 4 years and has a budget of 4 million euros.
"We will have several initiatives in this area, which relate to the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to European legislation. These are initiatives related to the modernization of the intellectual property ecosystem with new tools and new approaches. Also, initiatives related to education and training, for example, of Ukrainian judges in the field of IP," said Executive director of EUIPO João Negrão.
In particular, the SME Fund program has already been expanded to include small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine. And already 50 Ukrainian entrepreneurs have applied for such compensation in the IP sphere. EUIPO plans to provide greater support to Ukrainian businesses when they need to protect their IP rights in Ukraine, in the EU and on global markets.
The work plan for 2024-2025 will allow UKRNOIVI to benefit from EU support in areas related to the management of intellectual property rights: tools for examination purposes, support in harmonizing the practice of registration and examination of applications for trademarks and industrial designs with EU practice, opportunities for training personnel and cooperation.
Georgia achieved a termination of illegal use of protected geographical indication "Sulguni" in Germany
The National Center of Intellectual Property of Georgia (Sakpatenti) became aware that the protected Georgian geographical indication, cheese "Sulguni" was being used illegally on the territory of Germany.
In particular, cheese was sold in several German trade chains. Sakpatenti in coordination with the Embassy of Georgia in Germany took appropriate measures, after which the products labeled "Suluguni" were removed from the supermarket chain "LEDO" and "ROSSIA".
In January 2023, Sakpatenti wrote to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). Also, the relevant agencies of Germany examined this case, as a result of which, in order to prevent the unauthorized use and distribution of the Georgian geographical indication in Germany, they implemented the necessary measures and removed the infringing products from the supermarkets.
The protection of Georgian names of place of origin and geographical indications on the territory of the European Union is carried out on the basis of the association agreement signed between the European Union and Georgia, within the framework of which the parties recognize and protect each other's geographical indications, and in case of violation of their rights, take appropriate administrative measures.
The geographical indication "Sulguni" was registered in Georgia in 2012.
Ukraine developed a mechanism to protect copyrights of works that have passed into the public domain
By resolution of October 10, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a mechanism for protecting the personal non-property rights of the author regarding works that have passed into the public domain, in the absence of heirs.
This procedure eliminates the gap that arose after the adoption last year of the new law "On copyright and related rights", which added the possibility of protecting non-property rights to works in the public domain of the deceased author, but the mechanism was not defined.
The new regulation defines the procedure for submitting and considering an application for protection; the requirements for the documents attached to the application are established; the terms of its review are determined.
In order to protect the personal non-property rights of the author whose work has passed into the public domain, in the absence of heirs, a natural or legal person can apply to the Ministry of Economy with a relevant application. The IP office will consider this application and prepare an expert opinion on the presence or absence of signs of violation of the author's personal non-property rights.
