Strengthening bilateral cooperation with the national IP Offices of the Baltic States is one of the strategic priorities of the Ukrainian IP Office.

 

Olena Orliuk, Director of the IP Office, emphasized this during the meeting with Margus Viher, Director General of the Estonian Patent Office.

 

The meeting took place on June 10, 2024, as part of the working visit of the IP Office’s Director and Deputy Director Liubov Maidanyk to the Baltic States. The purpose of the visit was to discuss further cooperation between national intellectual property offices.

 

From left to right: Liubov Maidanyk, Margus Viger, Olena Orliuk

 

Olena Orliuk extended her gratitude to the Estonian colleagues for their unwavering support of Ukraine and the national IP office in the extremely difficult conditions of the russian war of aggression against Ukraine:

 

“For three years now, the entire country has had to overcome challenges that independent Ukraine has never faced before. Due to the destruction of the energy infrastructure (just like in the first winter of the full-scale invasion), long power outages have been introduced, and there are communication problems. But despite this, the Ukrainian IP Office continues to work. We not only facilitate the harmonization of national legislation with EU standards, but also develop, with the support of our partners, the National IP Strategy until 2030, which will respond to the most pressing internal and global challenges, and develop international cooperation,” – the Director of the IP Office emphasized.

 

Margus Viher and Olena Orliuk

 

The participants of the meeting exchanged experience in IP Offices management, as well as experience on European integration and its impact on the national IP offices functioning.

 

They also discussed:

 

• the issue of using the latest technologies in the administration of IP rights and the activities of the Office (cloud technologies, blockchain, cyber security, etc.);

 

• best practices for organizing the performance of IP Offices, in particular issues of document flow and archives. Store IP data in physical and electronic formats, automate document flow;

 

• maintaining IP rights databases;

 

• discussion of current AI and IP issues;

 

• harmonization of Ukrainian practices in the fields of patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications with the EU member states;

 

• EU TM and trademark registration systems in EU member states;

 

• discussion of Ukraine’s prospects for participation in the European Patent Convention. Membership in EUIPO and EPO – the perspective of national IP Offices;

 

• The EU Regulation for Craft and Industrial Products Geographical Indications (CIGI) and the Ukrainian practice.

 

At the same day, the IP Office’s delegation met with representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Estonia from the Intellectual Property Department.

 

Read also:

 

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Heads of IP offices in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova on initiatives to support Ukrainian IP sphere