As Ukraine continues to navigate through turmoil, the support from European Institutions such as the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) remains crucial. Amidst the backdrop of conflict, the protection of IP rights sends a powerful message of hope and resilience to Ukrainian creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. It validates the significance of their work and their vital contributions to the nation’s recovery and future growth.

In times of turmoil, the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) may not immediately appear as a priority. However, as Ukraine navigates through the complexities of war, the safeguarding of these rights emerges as a key for its economic stability, recovery, and future prosperity.

The EUIPO has played an important role in this arena, from day one. Find out how the EUIPO is helping Ukraine stand tall https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/news/ukraine-two-years-on

In addition, Parliament passed a law suspending the term in the IP sphere in Ukraine.

On April 1, 2022, the parliament passed a Law of Ukraine ‘On the Protection of Interests of Persons in the Sphere of Intellectual Property during Martial Law, Imposed in Connection with the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine’  that entered into force on April 13.

According to this law the terms related to acquisition and protection of IPRs are suspended during martial law in Ukraine, including the deadlines for the following actions:

∙ filing an objection to an application or international registration in Ukraine;

∙ challenging decisions of the Ukrainian IPO in court or before the Appeal Chamber of the IPO;

∙ renewals/reinstatements of IPRs;

∙ administrative invalidation procedures for patented inventions.

The respective terms will be resumed as from the day following the date of repeal or suspension of the martial law. Moreover, in case annuity/renewal fees are due during the martial law, such fees can be paid within 90 days after the martial law is repealed.

Also, when individuals and legal entities submit documents (applications, requests, oppositions, responses, etc.), they can do so not later than 90 days after the martial law is repealed without any need to pay official fees for renewal, reinstatement, or extension of the relevant deadlines stipulated by the IP laws and the schedule of official fees.

The rules of suspension of terms provided by this Law do not entail the suspension of registration certificates, patents or of the relevant intellectual property rights.

The changes established by law come into force on February 24, 2022.

]]> http://pakharenko.ua/en/regarding-the-work-of-the-ip-protection-system-during-the-war/feed/ 0 http://pakharenko.ua/en/ukraine-should-step-up-its-efforts-against-piracy-and-counterfeiting-eu-ukraine-dialogue-on-intellectual-property-rights/ http://pakharenko.ua/en/ukraine-should-step-up-its-efforts-against-piracy-and-counterfeiting-eu-ukraine-dialogue-on-intellectual-property-rights/#comments Mon, 08 Jul 2019 14:10:35 +0000 http://pakharenko.ua/?p=7970 Ukraine committed to bring its Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws in compliance with the EU acquis and enforcement practices as it is stipulated by the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) as part of the Association Agreement which has been applied since 1 January 2016. Reforms are envisioned in the area of copyright, trademarks, designs, topographies of semiconductors, patents, plant varieties and civil and border enforcement. These will enable Ukraine to be fully integrated into the world trading system, to continue to attract foreign investment and to prevent major losses for right-holders. The implementation of these reforms is on the agenda of the annual EU-Ukraine inter-government Dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights. The latest 17th IPR Dialogue took place in Kyiv on 26 June 2019.

At the IPR Dialogue, the Ukrainian side represented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) presented the main elements of the draft 5-year IP Strategy and reported its progress on a number of draft laws with the view to align the Ukrainian legislation with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. The MEDT is also preparing a draft law to address some of the shortcomings that emerged in the recently adopted law on collective rights management. All the technical work has almost been done and the MEDT plans to submit these new draft laws to the Verkhovna Rada after the elections.

Ukraine sees the formation of the Specialised IP Court as a priority and plans to complete the selection of its judges by the end of 2019. Simultaneously, the establishment of the new IP Office is ongoing and is scheduled to finish in 2020. The European side has offered to provide technical support to Ukraine in these areas.

During the dialogue, the EU representatives expressed concerns about the slow implementation of Ukraine’s commitments under the Association Agreement, especially in the areas of copyright, trademarks, patents and enforcement. Ukraine needs to step up efforts to align its laws with the EU norms and to create the necessary institutions for the management of IP rights as well as to strengthen measures to fight against counterfeiting and piracy.

The EU representatives emphasized that intellectual property rights infringements result in severe losses to the Ukrainian economy, decreasing investment and government revenues, and killing jobs in the creative and innovative industries. They also pose a significant risk to citizens who often simply do not know whether what they are buying is safe or not. Furthermore, the link between counterfeiting and organised crime poses a major threat to the society.

On the eve of the Dialogue, the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (UAACP) and the European Business Association organized the event “I Buy Real!” for general public to raise Ukrainians’ awareness of the issues of counterfeiting and the positive aspects of intellectual property rights.

“Our today’s focus is on the enforcement, specifically the problems related to the large scale of trade in counterfeit goods in Ukraine and attached consumer risks. Of course, this is not a Ukraine-specific problem. According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), trade in counterfeit and pirated products amounts annually to around EUR 460 billion worldwide. In the EU, counterfeit and pirated products amount to around 7% of its imports, or EUR 121 billion a year,” Jana Herceg, Head of Trade and Economic Section, EU Delegation to Ukraine, noted.

“A high level of protection of intellectual property rights in Ukraine is one of the main signals for business to invest into the Ukrainian economy. Therefore, a key challenge for the Ukrainian authorities is to form an effective mechanisms of preventing IP infringements, including combating piracy and spread of counterfeit products. The intellectual property protection should be a priority not only for the government, but also for the parliament of the new convocation. In addition to laws, it is also important to raise public awareness of the importance of observing IP rights, to develop a culture of respect for IP. I am confident that by uniting efforts of the authorities, business and public institutions we will create a new ecosystem based on respect for intellectual property rights,” Valeriy Zhaldak, Director of Department for Intellectual Property, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Co-Chair of the EU-Ukraine IPR Dialogue, said.

 According to European Business Association member companies, last year the proportion of falsified or illegally imported goods in Ukraine comprised inter alia: coffee – 40% (about USD 25 million), alcoholic beverages – 60% (about USD 400 million), agrochemical products – 25% ( about USD 200 million), household appliances and electronics for certain categories from 50 to 70% (USD 300-400 million).

“For example, the process of production of counterfeit coffee products begins with the import of raw materials in bulk volumes from foreign factories for the production of instant coffee with an understatement of the customs value by 2-3 times. Last year, according to EBA member companies, about 3,800 tons of coffee were imported. Coffee production alone led to more than USD 17 million in losses from the state budget. Clearly, understatement of customs values affects the cost of coffee for the consumer. But it is necessary to understand that fake coffee means quality and taste much worse than the original products,” Sergey Verbov, coordinator of the Coffee Fair Trade project of the European Business Association, said.

The meeting participants were shown samples of counterfeited clothes, footwear, toys, various accessories, cigarettes, razor blades, agrochemical and chemical substances collected in the Museum of Counterfeits by the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (UAACP). Some kinds of fake products, such as medicines, toys, spare parts for mechanisms and automobiles, agricultural fertilisers present a serious threat to the consumer life and safety.

Background information:

The IPR Dialogue was initially formed as part of the broader cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2006. It has been organised in the context of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement since 2016. It enables both sides to exchange information on multilateral and bilateral intellectual property-related issues, on national IP legislation and practices and to identify shortcomings and proposals for improvement.

According to the OECD-EUIPO joint study published in 2017 and mapping the real routes of trade in fake goods, Ukraine was one of the four main transit points for fake goods to the EU’s market. The main channels of sending counterfeit goods to Ukraine: international postal consignments and expedited delivery of counterfeit goods ordered at foreign e-commerce platforms; goods being imported without customs control (as contraband) by sea, air or land sold to individuals at Ukrainian markets, via online stores and e-commerce platforms; domestic goods produced by small and medium businesses with unlawful use of famous brands and sold by individuals at local markets in Ukraine, through online stores and e-commerce platforms.

Ukraine’s economy is affected by a wide spread of counterfeits: legal goods cannot compete with counterfeits by price, manufacturers and distributors lose their profit, the national budget loses potential billions of hryvnias annually. For consumers, counterfeits pose threat to life and health since they are not subject to any certification inspections being a part of a criminal market.

The largest problem for legal producers is online trading with counterfeit products. There are no possible sanctions from state authorities that would help in solving this issue because of absence of physical trade place and possibility to make inspection.

The special guest of the International Conference was Leszek Wieczorek, DrHb, Professor, director of Institute of Forensic Research (IFR), Krakow, Poland.

Natalia Tkachenko, Artem Ripenko, Tetyana Golikova, Oleg Ugrovetsky, Antonina Paharenko-Anderson, Oleksandr Ilyashko, Igor Starodubov made a welcoming speech at the Conference.

At the conference, the following issues were considered: the state and prospects of forensic examination in Ukraine, the development of forensic expertise in Poland, the conceptual framework for the development of the Center, mechanisms, methods, and forms of cooperation between Ukraine and Poland in the field of forensic expertise.

Representatives of public authorities, forensic experts, patent attorneys, lawyers and law firms in Ukraine became participants of the venue, namely: Ministry of Economic Development and Trade Ukraine, the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Kiev Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, the Odessa Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, Kharkov Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, Forensic Center and research SE “Information judicial system”, the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Training and Research Institute of V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University of Ukraine, IPjurix Patent and Legal Company, Sayenko Kharenko, Koval and Partners, Doubinsky & Osharova, Pakharenko & Partners, Law and Protection LLC, etc. Ms. Olga Bocharova, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Leading Specialist of Regula LLC, Minsk, Republic of Belarus attended the event.

According to the results of the conference, a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of research, methodological and forensic expert activity was signed between the Center, represented by the Director, Vladyslav Fedorenko and the Institute of Forensic Research represented by Director, Leszek Wieczorek. From 3July 2018, Mr. Leszek Wieczorek began his training at the Center. The Center’s experts also plan to visit the Institute of Forensic Research and do practice training this autumn.

Also, during the event, Mr. Vladyslav Fedorenko and Ms. Tetyana Tkachenko, Head of the Department of Organizational and Management Support for Forensic Activities of the Department of Litigation and Bankruptcy of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine awarded the forensic experts of the Center, Mrs. Tetyana Chabanets by the Departmental inspirational reward and Mr. Viktor Didoborshch by Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

http://www.ujbl.info/news.php?id=895

In Kharkiv region, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine stopped the activities of an organized group engaged in illegal production and smuggling of strong drugs of the steroid group, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor’s Office.

SBU operatives established that the group consisted of several local residents, including a former law-enforcement officer, and an active employee of one of the courts of the Kharkiv region.
Law-enforcers documented that the offenders ordered highly potent chemicals for the production of counterfeit “drugs” in one of the countries of East Asia, from where these components were posted to Ukraine. The dealers organized a lab at the place of residence of one of the group members and manufactured there counterfeit injectable drugs and pills under the brands of well-known foreign manufacturers of anabolic steroids. Part of the counterfeit products was smuggled to Russia.

SBU officers detained one of the members of this group at the “Shcherbakivka” checkpoint, Kharkiv regional customs, during an attempt to smuggle a lot of counterfeit drugs with counterfeit medical substances – methandienone and nandrolone. The organizer of the group was detained after receiving money from Russian customers.

During the searches at the residence locations of the criminals, SBU officers confiscated a large number of counterfeit capsules and pills of anabolic drugs, raw materials, equipment for the production of counterfeit medicine, packaging containers, labels and duty stamps. According to experts, the cost of seized goods at the “black market” prices is almost UAH 1,000,000 ($40 000).

Four members of the criminal group are arrested and notified of suspicion in having committed a crime under Part 2 of Art. 201 and Part 4 of Art. 321 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to SBU Press Centre

The law-enforcement bodies have arrested the main manufacturers of “lethal” vodka. As it turned out, the infringers bought pure alcohol and then carried out home production of counterfeit vodka and cognac, using the labels, glassware and paper packaging of several famous trademarks. Then, lethal surrogate under the logos of well-known brands got into the large-scale sales via retail networks or directly from the manufacturers’ premises. A pint of counterfeited product cost 25 UAH.

The police has seized another 4 tons of spirit from the clandestine “business” organizer. The “businessman” admitted that he had tested the counterfeit products on his friends. Although the latter complained of feeling sick after drinking, the “businessman”, who decided to make money on human lives, continued to produce and sell the surrogate.

A female seller who cooperated with the said dealer was selling the counterfeit alcohol in her shops network and to resellers. It has been established, that 3 tons of counterfeit still got into the free market, so for the time being the police is inspecting retail facilities in order to seize dangerous alcoholic beverages, as well as appealing to the citizens to refrain from drinking alcohol.

In order to prevent occurring of further incidents and sale of dangerous counterfeit alcohol products to the consumers, the central executive bodies and regional state administrations are taking urgent measures to strengthen the fight against illegal production and sale of food products, in particular alcoholic beverages.

SFSCPS is also appealing to the citizens not to buy and consume alcohol of unknown origin under any circumstances. Such “products” can cause grave, often irreversible disorders leading to death.

According to the National Police of Ukraine and SFSCPS web-sites

In the course of implementation of the Action Plan a particular emphasis will be placed on introduction of a transparent two-level structure of the state management in the field of intellectual property, reorganization of the collective copyrights management system, improvement of national legislation and its harmonization with EU requirements.

The Resolution provides for liquidation of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine (SIPS), transfer of functions related to implementation of the national policy in the field of intellectual property to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, transfer of the management over the State enterprise “Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute “ (“Ukrpatent”), the State organization “Ukrainian Agency of Copyrights and Related Rights” and the State enterprise “Intelzakhyst” from the SIPS to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

Prior to coming into force of a specific government act pertaining to peculiarities of performing the respective authorities by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade the SIPS will continue performing its functions, including those related to registration of IPR objects and issuance of protection documents.

Intellectual Property Forum (IPF 2014) was held on 26 of June 2014 at the premise of the Premier Palace Hotel in Kiev and gathered the record number of participants, namely 200 attendees including representatives of Ukraine’s government bodies, large enterprises, law firms, international and national NGOs, business associations, as well as patent attorneys and scholars. Creation of such a communication forum was the main purpose of the organizers of the event, Yuridicheskaya Praktika Magazine and the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine.

The format of the event provided for three general sessions, three parallel sections (to allow the participants to choose the most interesting topic), and envisaged the presentations of 40 speakers.

During the first session of the IPF 2014 titled “Development of Intellectual Property and Investment Attractiveness of Ukraine” the Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, Bogdan Lvov, made a presentation in which he reminded the participants that in commercial courts of Ukraine court specialization for consideration of IP-related cases has been established since 2003. He said that this specialization was recently abandoned, however, after coming into effect of the Law of Ukraine “On Restoration of the Confidence in Judicial Power in Ukraine” this gap was eliminated, and starting from May 2014 already specialization without the excessive detail was established by the assembly of judges that makes it impossible, even theoretically, to forward the case to a specific judge. For the time being only 7 categories of cases for allocation remained at the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, where one category is related to protection of IPR objects and also includes the issues of unfair competition. During his presentation Mr. Lvov answered the questions of the participants of the Forum, in particular with regard to the advisability of establishment of a patent court in Ukraine, creation of which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, will be accompanied by the number of difficulties, particularly related to funding. Also, the new court instance will not guarantee solving the issue of sufficient special competence of judges that would consider the cases related to intellectual property issues.

Opening the second session, Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson, session’s moderator, pointed out that Ukraine is now in the process of establishment of the democratic society, and the associate membership in the European Union will provide an additional attractiveness for investments in the Ukrainian economy; however, securing competitiveness of our economy and its further innovation development are impossible without protecting and defending intellectual property.

Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson emphasized that in order to determine the basic principles and strategic goals of the further development of the field of IP in Ukraine the State IP Service of Ukraine has developed Draft National Strategy of the Development of the field of Intellectual property for the period until 2018 which was described in more detail by Mykola Kovinya, the Head of the State IP Service of Ukraine. Mr. Kovinya presented the Draft Strategy to the audience outlining the main areas, stages and mechanisms of implementation of the state policy aiming at the use of intellectual property as a strategic resource in the system of shaping national wealth and advancing our country’s economic competitiveness and its integration into the international economic environment.

Introducing the next speaker, Mrs. Pakharenko-Anderson noted that the system of protection of IP rights has significant impact on the economic growth, FDI, employment, innovation and general competitiveness in each country. Accordingly, strengthening the IP protection and enforcement regime is a key element for the country to realize its economic potential. With this in mind the International Chamber of Commerce together with its business initiative ‘Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy’ (BASCAP) carried out the study of the Ukraine’s IP market and prepared the report titled “Promoting and Protecting Intellectual Property in Ukraine” targeted specially for the Ukrainian Government, and officially presented to the Government on June 25, 2014 at the Ukrainian National News Agency “Ukrinform”. During the IPF 2014 Jeffrey Hardy, Director of BASCAP, presented the report before the professional community.

In his speech Mr. Hardy noted that ICC/BASCAP and ICC Ukraine are hoping that the recommendations provided in the report will be useful for the Ukrainian authorities in implementation of political and legislative reforms necessary for strengthening the IP regime, and will also be a useful input to the discussions in completing the work on the National Strategy of the Development of IP in Ukraine for the period until 2018. The availability of the comprehensive national strategy of protection of IPRs containing the significant number of political and legislative reforms like those provided in the ICC/BASCAP report will demonstrate Ukraine’s strong intention to support the initiatives promoting growth and technology development which may be ensured subject to securing a robust IP regime.

The issues of inter-agency collaboration in the field of anti-counterfeiting were highlighted by John Anderson who started his presentation with the overview of major international NGOs working in the field of IPR protection, their status and objectives. Mr. Anderson described the role and activities of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group that unites a number of national and regional associations and presents the good example of public-private partnership. He also outlined the functions and activities of international government organizations, such as Interpol, working in the field of IPR enforcement, and provided the examples of successful cooperation between non-government and international intergovernmental organizations.

The further part of Mr. Anderson’s presentation related to description and critique of some existing challenges of ‘Public/private’ partnership in the field of anti-counterfeiting. According to Mr. Anderson, the main challenge stems from the fact that counterfeiting is an economic and social problem, it is international and pan-industry phenomenon with diverse action, linked to organized criminal business and it is flexible and adaptable.

Speaking about the existing enforcement challenges in the field of anti-counterfeiting, Mr. Anderson noted that the problems with enforcement are related with the several factors, namely government inertia (responsibility is shared by the consumers as voters), insufficient allocation of enforcement agency resources, inadequate priorities, government effort disparity and judicial ‘indifference’. In view of the aforesaid, in the opinion of Mr. Anderson, public/private partnerships, inter-agency cooperation structures need to work on operations, strategies and awareness messages.

In terms of operations, the activity of such organizations should include the following areas, namely  detection,  investigation, prosecution, intelligence, product security technology and services, storage, transport. Strategy area is expected to include lobbying, legislation, legal/judicial procedure, resources, research and statistics, awareness (communications). At the same time, communications and awareness activities should target the respective audiences, such as influencers – academics, professionals (media); civil society – consumers, anti-globalists, youth; business – CEOs, management, employees, competitors; services – logistics suppliers; enforcement agencies; government – executive, legislature, civil service; and others (intermediaries) – retailers, distributors, ISPs.

Inna Shatova, the Deputy Head of the Department/ Head of the Industrial Property Department of the State IP Service of Ukraine highlighted the issues of legal protection of geographic indications covering, in particular, this aspect of Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

This session was concluded with a presentation of Larysa Vrublevska, associated partner of the International Legal Center “EUCON”, who spoke about the aspects of commercialization of the IP objects.

Multidimensional topic of IPR enforcement was discussed within three parallel sections during the Forum, namely the sections of enforcement of the IP rights in the IT field,  administrative procedure of IP rights enforcement, national and international protection of industrial property.

The section dedicated to administrative procedure of IP rights enforcement was moderated by Oksana Kondratieva, and its participants included the experienced representatives of the public bodies and legal business. The list of topics for discussion included the burning issues relating to administrative enforcement of IP rights. In particular, the participants discussed the issues of peculiarities and problems of enforcement of IP rights before the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the State Inspection of Protection of Consumer Rights, and also covered the available court practice pertaining to these issues.

This discussion was attended by many participants of the Forum, many burning issues were raised to which the speakers attempted to provide the exhaustive answers. The participants of this section also shared their experience of administrative enforcement of IP rights, their know-how in solving the problematic issues. In particular, Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson spoke about the peculiarities of launching goods onto the market and protecting right holders from the unfair competitors by means of administrative procedures. Summing up the session, the participants reached a conclusion about the need for further improvement of the Ukrainian legislation and its adaptation to the European standards.

Among all the other topics a particular attention was paid to the session dedicated to litigation in the field of IP. The presence of numerous representatives of judicial authorities allowed the participants of the Forum to familiarize with the present peculiarities of consideration of IP-related cases before the court and to ask judges the additional questions. During this session the lawyer of Pakharenko & Partners, Yevhen Kompanets, made a presentation highlighting the problematic issues of the process of destruction of counterfeit goods in Ukraine as the last stage of anti-counterfeiting procedure. The speaker focused on the problems pertaining to the destruction of counterfeits that allow counterfeits to enter the territory of Ukraine. These problems, in particular, include the difficulty, and sometimes the impossibility to control the destruction process on the part of the right holder, the absence of right holder’s right to participate in the process of destruction of counterfeit goods, where such right holder’s rights have been infringed, due to the fact that the right holder is not a party to the enforcement proceedings related to destruction of counterfeits in criminal, customs and administrative cases; small number of enterprises dealing with destruction of counterfeits; the possibility of bringing the seized counterfeit products onto the market if the customs protocols are drawn up based on Acticles 472, 482, 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine. In the final part of his presentation Mr. Kompanets announced the legislative recommendations developed by the company which, if adopted, would prevent the counterfeits from repeated entering the market.

At the end of the event there was the ceremony of awarding the leading IP practitioners.

The Forum was best remembered for the extraordinary activeness of the participants, the intense agenda, and it was carried out in a friendly working atmosphere, helped to refresh the old issues and reveal the new perspectives in the development of the IP field and thus was interesting both for the experienced professionals and the beginners.

On June 23, 2014 the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy in cooperation with the State Intellectual Property Service will hold the roundtable “Main areas of the activity of the Ukrainian government authorities for protection of intellectual property rights” which will take place at the Ukrainian National News Agency “Ukrinform” (8/16 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Str., Kyiv, Ukraine) from 10:00 to 12:00. The event will be attended by the representatives of the bodies of state power (law-enforcement authorities, supervisory agencies, judges, local authorities), representatives of the expert institutions and right holders. The social event titled “I Buy Real! I Don’t Buy Fakes” is the part of the educational campaign “Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy Days in Ukraine” launched in Ukraine in 2012 by the UAACP in cooperation with the State IP Service, The State Customs Service of Ukraine, The Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Ukraine).

Program of the event:

10:00 – 10:20
• Registration of the media representatives
• Exhibition of the samples of counterfeit products (footwear, clothes, accessories, video games, watches, perfumery, earphones etc.).
• Coffee-Break

10:20 – 10:35
Greeting address by the organizers of the event: Mykola Kovinya, the Chairman of State IP Service; Volodymyr Shchelkunov, the President of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce; John Anderson, the Chairman of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Network; and Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson, the President of the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

10:35 – 10:45
“Threats posed by the counterfeit and pirated products to the society” – Antonina Pakharenko-Anderson, President of the Ukraine Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

10:45 – 10:55
“The role of the State IP Service of Ukraine in implementation of the state policy in the field of intellectual property” – Mykola Kovinya, the Chairman of the State IP Service of Ukraine.

10:55 – 11:05
“The role of the customs authorities in combating infringements of intellectual property by preventing importation of counterfeit goods into the territory of Ukraine” – Oleksiy Hashchytsky, the representative of the Department of Customs Issues of the Ministry of Revenues and Duties of Ukraine.

11:05 – 11:15
“The role of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine in combating infringements of intellectual property rights, in particular by stopping the manufacture and the sale of counterfeit products”  – Andriy Chyharskykh, the Head of the Department of IPR Protection of the Department of the State Service for Combating Economic Crimes under the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

11:15 – 11:25
“Specialization of judges as a guarantee of the effective enforcement of intellectual property rights” – Igor Benedysyuk, Judge, the Secretary of the 4th Court Chamber of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine.

11:25 – 11:35
“The task is to prevent counterfeits from entering into the Ukrainian market” – Yevhen Rogozyansky, the lawyer of Pakharenko & Partners IP and Law Firm

11:35 –12:00
Q&A Session. Closing Remarks.