UKRAINE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Oleksandr Mamunya and Oksana Padokh, Mamunya IP
Mamunya IP Stand Business Center 14 Vasylkivska St Kyiv 03040 Ukraine Tel: +380 44 495 4500 Email: PR@mamunya-ip.com Web: mamunya-ip.com
Introduction Ukraine applied for EU membership on 28 Feb - ruary 2022. Following the European Commis - sion’s recommendation in November 2023, in December 2023 the European Council decided to open accession negotiations, and adopted the negotiating framework in June 2024, includ - ing in the intellectual property (IP) law sector. According to the latest Report of the Europe - an Commission (see here ) on Ukraine’s align - ment with EU law dated 30 October 2024 (the “Report”), and despite Russia’s ongoing war of aggression, Ukraine has demonstrated remark - able resilience and a strong commitment to its European path. The European Commission admitted that Ukraine has attained some level of preparation on IP law. Compared to the European Commis - sion’s report of 1 February 2023, which assessed the status as at an “early stage of preparation”, Ukraine has since implemented several legisla - tive and institutional reforms, which have con - tributed to an improvement in the overall align - ment of Ukraine’s legislation with EU law. In particular, the Commission noted the adoption of implementing legislation to enforce the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.
However, since the Commission’s recommenda - tions from 2023 have been partially implement - ed, others have remained valid. In the coming year, Ukraine should, in particular: • continue alignment with the EU acquis on copyright, industrial property rights and trade secrets; • improve the functioning of collective manage - ment organisations and the payment of royal - ties to right-holders; and • further improve the IP rights (IPR) enforce - ment system, in particular by combating piracy and counterfeit products, making the IP courts operational and leveraging collabo - ration with the EU Intellectual Property Office. For context, Ukraine announced its intention to establish the High Court on Intellectual Prop - erty a few years ago. However, owing to vari - ous circumstances, including the martial law in Ukraine, the court has not yet been established. Commencing the full operation of said court is one of Ukraine’s main priorities for the upcoming development periods. Notwithstanding Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine also continues to engage in substantial co-operation with the United States on long-standing areas of concern involving
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