The 11th annual meeting of the European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network (EIPPN), organized in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took place at the headquarters of WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the framework of the international technical assistance project “EU4IP: Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine” implementation, funded by the EU, the following Ukrainian representatives joined the international workshop:

• Oleksii Boniuk, Head of the Criminal Policy and Investment’s Protection Department, Office of the Prosecutor General;
• Oleksii Oliinyk, Head of Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office;
• Anastasia Moheliuk, Leading Intellectual Property Professional, IP Office’s Intellectual Property Right’s Infringement Monitoring Center.

The EIPPN workshop brought together prosecutors and experts from Europe and around the world, including Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Armenia, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.

What did they meet for?

The EIPPN meetings support the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), which tackles the most serious threats posed by organized and serious international criminal groups affecting the European Union. EMPACT strengthens intelligence, strategic and operational cooperation between national authorities, EU institutions and bodies.

The main purpose of the EIPPN meeting is to focus on global experience in the prosecution of intellectual property crimes, support prosecutors working on IPR cases, and discuss the EMPACT International Intellectual Property Crime Investigation and Prosecution Handbook.

What was discussed?

Leading experts discussed issues related to the IP crimes prosecution, in particular:

• the importance of IP enforcement and building respect for IP;
• criminal legislative measures in serious and organized IP crime cases;
• calculation of damages in IP crime cases;
• trends and opportunities in crypto asset investigation;
• private sector perspective on IP crime prosecution.

Representatives of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (European Observatory) and the International Trademark Association (INTA) joined the event.

Such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Spain, Denmark, and the Dominican Republic shared their national experience in crime prosecution. There were also mentioned IP crimes prosecution related to the aggressor state of russia.

Benefits for Ukraine

It should be noted that meetings of this level are extremely relevant in the context of the European integration vector of Ukraine’s development and ensure effective consolidation of efforts on the way to cooperation and exchange of information in the field of intellectual property rights protection.

Participation in the meeting will contribute to the improvement of the national IP crimes prosecution system, as well as further cooperation between the IP Office, law enforcement agencies and international organizations.