From 5 to 7 November 2024, representatives of the Ukrainian IP Office (UANIPIO) visited the headquarters of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante (Spain). The purpose of the visit was experience exchange in the field of IP legal protection, enforcement as well as IP administration issues.
The Ukrainian IP Office at the EUIPO was represented by:
The event was organized under the auspices of the international project “Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia” (EU4IP), in which the Ukrainian IP Office participates. The project will last for four years and is funded by the European Union.
During the working visit, Ukrainian delegation met with Executive Director of the EUIPO João Negrão. He emphasized that EUIPO remains committed to supporting Ukraine, collaborating closely with the EU institutions focusing on harmonizing the Ukrainian intellectual property system with the EU standards. Mr Negrão noted that Ukraine is and will remain a key partner for building a sustainable and efficient intellectual property ecosystem that will be beneficial to the whole of Europe. Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office, who headed the delegation, expressed his gratitude to the Executive Director of the EUIPO for the invitation, cordial atmosphere, and a warm welcome in order to strengthen cooperation and experience exchange. He also signed the EUIPO Golden Book for honored guests.
“In these challenging times, we are proud to be writing a common history with EUIPO, united by our belief in the power of innovation”, – noted Bogdan Paduchak.
Legal issues, cooperation and partnership, as well as the functioning of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights were in the focus of the first working visit’s day.
The delegation also got acquainted with the bad faith assessment in the EUIPO practice, classification and evidence verification in unfair competition cases, and procedural issues.
Special attention was paid to the EU design legislative reform, resulting from changes to the EU acquis that will come into force in the near future and should be implemented by Ukraine. Also there was discussed the geographical indications (GIs) regulation issues , in particular for craft and industrial GIs – in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products. From December 2025, EUIPO will be responsible for administering the registration of these GIs in cooperation with the national authorities of the EU Member States.
In addition, the participants discussed the issues of updating guidelines and common practices for EU trademarks (EUTM) and registered designs (RCD) with a focus on ensuring a sustainable registration process.
There was also discussed different aspects of the international cooperation within the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) and functioning of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, which aims to raise awareness of the consequences and dangers of counterfeit goods. In particular, participants discussed information campaigns organized by the Observatory, tools assisting the IP rights protection, and possible collaboration between the Observatory and IP Rights Infringement Monitoring Center, which operates within the Ukrainian IP Office.
The first working visit’s day also covered the copyright issues. In particular, IP issues in the digital world, the status of “orphan” works, and out-of-commerce works.
In addition, the Ukrainian IP Office’s delegation joined the tour of the EUIPO.
During the second day of the working visit, there were discussed the advantages of EUIPN tools, the nuances of the EUIPO Boards of Appeal functioning, as well as communication and media issues.
Thus, the EUIPO representatives revealed various aspects of international cooperation and partnerships, which can be achieved within the EUIPN search and classification tools, such as TMView, DesignView, TMClass, DesignClass.
Special attention was paid to the functioning of the EUIPO Boards of Appeal. Representatives of the Office presented the structure of the Boards of Appeal, the distribution of cases, drafting decisions, the procedure for appealing decisions to the EU Court of Justice, and IT tools that automate the activities of the Boards of Appeal. The procedure for appealing the decisions taken by the Boards of Appeal to the Court of Justice and the issues of the EUIPO Mediation Center functioning.
The discussion focused also on the activities of the communications team, their cooperation with foreign and national media, as well as best practices for information campaigns aimed at IP awareness raising. At the same time, representatives of the IP Office shared with the EUIPO team the key results and projects on IP raising awareness, taken education and training activities.
The last working visit’s day was devoted to the various aspects of EU trademark examination and registration.
In particular, EUIPO representatives shared the practice of conducting the ex-parte and inter-partes TM examination on absolute and relative grounds for refusal.
Inter-partes proceedings post publication: oppositions, specific earlier rights in opposition cases: reputed trade marks, non-registered trademarks as well as inter-partes proceedings post registration: cancellations.
EUIPO experts also shared information on organizational developments, IT tools and templates, visual/image search in TMview and DesignView, automation of examination processes (including the use of artificial intelligence tools). The issues of the decision quality control were also discussed.
As a result of the visit, UANIPIO and EUIPO agreed to continue the implementation of the Work Plan of joint activities for 2024 – 2025, as well as the EU4IP Overall and 1st Work Plans, in particular, to support SMEs within the SME Fund, implement EUIPN tools and practices in the context of the international cooperation as well as PES Mundus and SNE programs realization.
Photo: EUIPO
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