UKRAINE Law and Practice Contributed by: Oleksandr Mamunya, Ganna Prokhorova, Nataliia Badora and Ihor Kharytonov, Mamunya IP
2.5 Prerequisites to Filing a Lawsuit The Ukrainian law does not establish a compul- sory pre-court dispute resolution attempt. This is, however, a recommended step for a party planning to commence a court proceeding for the sake of proving to the court the unscrupu- The Ukrainian procedural codes allow self-repre- sentation of parties to a case. In legal entities, a director or other specifically empowered person may serve as a representative in court proceed- ings. Otherwise, a party may only be represented by an attorney at law. 2.7 Interim Injunctions The effective law provides for interim injunctions, and this procedural instrument is actively used by parties in patent cases. lous behaviour of a defendant 2.6 Legal Representation The interim injunction may be granted if failure to take such a measure may significantly com- plicate or impede enforcement of a court deci- sion or effective protection or restoration of an infringed right/interest of a plaintiff, and for other reasons, defined by law. The motion for an interim injunction may be filed before filing a claim or at any stage of court proceedings. Measures, which may be applied, include: • a prohibition from taking some actions (for example, prohibiting relevant authorities from proceeding with granting a potentially infring- ing marketing authorisation or introducing changes into the registration dossier); • suspension of customs clearance of goods containing objects of intellectual property rights; and • other measures prescribed by law.
cial reform. Until that happens, the commercial, civil, administrative and criminal courts consider IP cases. The commercial courts consider matters between legal entities, while cases involving individuals are normally considered by the civil courts. Administrative courts consider cases against state authorities. The venue of a dis- pute mostly depends on the defendant’s loca- tion. Criminal IP cases are considered by the criminal courts. The appellate court shall be in the region where a respective first instance court resolved an IP case. The Supreme Court serves as a cassation instance; however, not every case may qualify for a cassation consideration because of “cassa- tion filters” introduced by the procedural codes. This is decided on a case-by-case basis at the stage of commencing cassation proceedings. 2.4 Specialised Bodies/Organisations for the Resolution of Disputes See 2.3 Courts With Jurisdiction for discussion of the High Court of Intellectual Property. In addition, parties to a contract may agree to transfer their dispute for resolution by a particu- lar arbitral tribunal, having a location either in Ukraine or abroad. That is, only patent disputes arising from contracts may be resolved by a dis- pute resolution body other than a court. The Ukrainian arbitral body is the International Commercial Arbitration under the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, located in Kyiv.
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