What are the prospects for recodification of civil legislation in the context of intellectual property rights? And how do these changes correlate with the obligations of our State to adapt IP legislation to the acquis of the European Union in Ukraine’s path to the EU full membership? This was discussed during the All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference “Reforming intellectual property rights in the context of recodification of civil legislation of Ukraine”.
The event, which took place on October 2, 2025, was organized by the Institute of Law-making and Scientific-Legal Expertise of the NAS of Ukraine and Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO/IP Office). The moderator was Marina Velykanova, Head of the Department of the Institute of Law-making and Scientific-Legal Expertise of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor.
Opening the conference, Olexiy Kot, Director of the Institute of Law-making and Scientific-Legal Expertise of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, noted that the issues of recodification of civil legislation of Ukraine are of particular importance. In this context, the conference is an opportunity to exchange views on the current challenges of science and the needs of law enforcement practice in the field of intellectual property. In this context, the conference is an opportunity to exchange views on the current challenges of science and the needs of law enforcement practice in the field of intellectual property.
Olexiy Kot
It is important that the updated book of the Civil Code of Ukraine (CC of Ukraine) on intellectual property issues takes into account both the needs of the practice of applying the current norms and new European approaches that form the modern vector of development of law in this area. Natalia Kuznietsova, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, emphasized this in her welcoming speech.
Natalia Kuznietsova
Olena Orliuk, Director of UANIPIO, Doctor of law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, noted in her speech that intellectual property is one of the most dynamic spheres of public relations, and that is why the discussion of ways to develop civil legislation in this area is extremely important.
“We are dealing with new institutions, norms and challenges that need to be responded quickly and with modern legal instruments. On the one hand, the pace determines technological development, on the other hand, the number of tasks related to regulation is growing, for example, the use of artificial intelligence,” said the Director of the IP Office.
Olena Orliuk
The European integration dimension is of particular importance in this process. The completion of the latest screening of national legislation in the European Commission opens a new stage of extremely intensive work on coordinating legal regulation and ensuring effective law enforcement practices.
“We welcome the fact that civil and special legislation in the field of intellectual property will have the same vector of movement. This is the key to systematic development,” mentioned Olena Orliuk.“This approach forms a modern vision of the role of intellectual property in the economy and legal sphere of Ukraine.”
Igor Yakubivskyi, Doctor of Law, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Private Law Research Department of the Institute of Law-making and Scientific-Legal Expertise of the NAS of Ukraine, made a presentation on the prospects for recodification of intellectual property rights, which are set out in the works of the working group on updating the CC of Ukraine.
“The main value of the CC of Ukraine is to consolidate the system of intellectual property rights. No special law will ensure this, because it focuses on a specific object or relationship, and the CC of Ukraine is able to bring everything into a system and show the place of intellectual property rights in the private law system. For the Book Four, the system-forming point is the range of objects of intellectual property rights. The reference point for building a range of objects is obligations under international treaties in which Ukraine participates: the WIPO convention, as well as the Association Agreement, which names the pool of objects that should be included in the intellectual property system. That is why one of the directions of updating the CC of Ukraine is to audit these objects primarily for those that do not work – declared, but are not really protected,” Igor Yakubivskyi said.
Igor Yakubivskyi
Today, we face not only space-time challenges in the development of intellectual property rights, but also new international obligations. This was emphasized by Olena Orliuk:
“Only last year, two international agreements in the IP sphere were adopted, to which Ukraine will potentially join. This requires us to pay close attention to the reforms and harmonization of legislation.”
The Director of UANIPIO is convinced that it is not necessary to change in the CC of Ukraine what has stood the test of time and the practice of standard application. At the same time, many aspects need to be updated. An important area for rethinking is the definition of the legal regime of objects that are only included in international legal regulation, for example, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. Now the world is just forming approaches to their protection, but these objects are increasingly adopting the legal nature of intellectual property objects.
Special attention should be paid to harmonizing the provisions of national legislation with European standards.
“Our task is to avoid a situation where the new Book Four of the CC of Ukraine will contradict the documents already submitted to the European Commission. That is why it is important to synchronize the regulation of the IP objects, taking into account European approaches,” says Olena Orliuk.
Among the controversial issues remains the regime of individual objects of intellectual property, in particular scientific discoveries, innovation proposals, animal breeds that are appropriate to leave in the general list of objects of intellectual property rights.
Special attention should be paid to the regulation of the trade secrets within the framework of intellectual property rights. Along with this, the challenges posed by the promotion of artificial intelligence and technologies, innovative development, also deserve a response from both Legal Science and Legal Regulation.
“Our task is to harmonize the reform of civil legislation with international and European tendencies. We need to be forward-thinking about what intellectual property objects will shape the agenda tomorrow. This will allow Ukraine to remain an active participant in the global process and protect the interests of its innovators and creators,” Olena Orliuk concluded.
More information about proposals for adapting national legislation in the IP sphere to EU standards was provided by:
Pictured from left to right: Mykola Pototskyi, Liubov Maidanyk and Bogdan Paduchak
Ukraine already has an established negotiating position on Cluster 2 (“Internal market”), which includes Chapter 7 “Intellectual property law”. This was emphasized by Bogdan Paduchak:
“This clearly outlines our vector in the field of intellectual property and determines where we are moving in the context of European integration. At the same time, the National Program for the Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to EU Acquis is being developed, which will contain a list of all regulatory acts, including those related to intellectual property, and determine the time frame for their adoption.”
First Deputy Director of UANIPIO added that the negotiating position also provides for consideration of the issue of Ukraine’s accession to a number of key international treaties: the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, as well as the European Patent Convention.
Separately, Bogdan Paduchak focused on proposals for the implementation of certain provisions of the EU acquis in the field of patents and utility models, which were developed jointly with the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine and stakeholders, and submitted to the European Commission for consideration. The new structure of the draft law covers the general part, patents, utility models, Protection for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC), international patenting, protection of rights, patent as an object of property, institutional provisions and procedures before UANIPIO.
“The document proposes to introduce a European model of protection of inventions: inventions will be protected as patents, but applicants will also be able to obtain protection for an invention in the form of a utility model. This is a completely new approach to the protection of inventions in Ukraine,” Bogdan Paduchak said.
The draft law provides for structuring the conditions of patentability in accordance with the standards of the European Patent Convention, clarifying the provisions on biotechnological inventions, and fully implementing the EU acquis in the field of SPC. It is proposed that the law come into force simultaneously with the moment of Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which will ensure the synchronization of national and European legislation.
More information about these offers can be found in the presentation:
Mykola Pototskyi in his speech focused on the European future of Ukrainian trade secrets and the associated challenges for the re-codification of civil legislation. He noted that the proposals for the implementation of the EU acquis in this area formed the basis of the draft Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Trade Secrets”, developed by the joint efforts of many stakeholders. The document is intended to regulate relations on the protection of undisclosed know-how and information about economic activities from their illegal receipt, use or disclosure, in particular from manifestations of unfair competition.
The draft law proposes to exclude trade secrets from the list of objects of intellectual property rights and update Chapter 46 “Rights to trade secrets” of the Civil Code of Ukraine. This is due to a change in the very concept of a trade secret, and therefore the content of the rights that are associated with it.
Mykola Pototskyi also outlined a range of issues that require further discussion. For example, the correct name of the person who legally controls trade secrets is the controller or right holder.
“We are also talking about the fact that the rights to trade secrets can be the subject of obligations and used in other civil relations. This is a fairly general norm that needs to be specified, perhaps even at the level of the law. What kind of legal relationship are these? Is the concept of disclosure of trade secret rights allowed? What legal constructions should be applied to these relations?” – emphasized Mykola Pototskyi.
For more information about the presentation of Mykola Pototskyi, please follow the link.
Proposals for the implementation of the EU acquis provisions in the field of copyright and related rights were highlighted by Liubov Maidanyk. She noted that now we are talking about adapting 13 Directives and two Regulations, which means a deep transformation of Ukrainian legislation in accordance with European standards.
According to the speaker, first of all, this concerns three key aspects: expanding the list of objects of related rights, improving the system of collective management of copyright and related rights, which still does not work effectively enough, and strengthening the fight against piracy on the Internet. “The proposed amendments are designed to bring Ukraine to a level that will ensure decent protection of the rights of subjects in the field of copyright and related rights. And the level of protection, in turn, is an important indicator for attracting foreign investment,” Liubov Maidanyk said.
She paid special attention to a new object of related rights – press publications. We are talking about an ordered set of journalistic materials (a newspaper, magazine, or other regularly updated publication), which may also contain other works or objects. The publisher becomes the subject of rights, and the term of validity of property rights is determined in two years from the date of the first publication.
Proposals were also considered to update the terms of validity of related property rights: for performances recorded in phonograms, and phonograms – 70 years (both terms are calculated from January 1 of the year following the year of publication).
“Today we live in an information society, where new objects and new forms of use of works appear. Therefore, Ukrainian legislation should be flexible and ready to integrate these changes in order to ensure an appropriate level of protection and meet international standards,” Liubov Maidanyk said.
For more information about her presentation, please follow the link.
The conference showed a high level of interest of the scientific and professional community in the formation of a modern concept of CC of Ukraine in terms of intellectual property. Reports on the prospects for recodification of the CC of Ukraine were also made by:
In addition, leading scientists, practitioners and representatives of government agencies joined the active discussion:
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