On April 26, 2021, the events of the Week of Intellectual Property (IP) in Ukraine began in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The events are organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine (Ministry of Economy) and the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property” (Ukrpatent) in cooperation with WIPO. The online conference is designed for 4 days and will be held on the Zoom platform. The event is also broadcast live on the official Facebook page of Ukrpatent. Speakers are WIPO representatives and Ukrainian IP specialists.
Conference program
The event started with a greeting from representatives of WIPO, the Ministry of Economy and Ukrpatent. Oleksandr Shevchenko, Head of Programs for the Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe Division of the WIPO Department for Transition and Advanced Economies, addressed the audience and the entire IP community of Ukraine, congratulating him on his professional holiday, International IP Day.
Shevchenko stressed the urgency and importance of commercializing ideas and supporting IP business. He also announced the establishment of a relevant sector in WIPO, headed by the Deputy Director General of the organization, Mark Aleman. The audience of the conference got acquainted with the video address of Mr. Aleman, dedicated to the International IP Day and the prominent role of SMEs in the development of innovation, creating new business models, finding original solutions to overcome the problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main program of the event was opened by Bohdan Paduchak, Deputy Director of the IP Development Department – Head of the Industrial Property Department of the Ministry of Economy. He made a report in which the main nuances of Ukrainian legislation in the field of IP were presented. The main topics were the improvement of legislation in the field of industrial property, the redistribution of powers between the Ministry of Economy and the National Intellectual Property Authority in the framework of IP reform, and others. Alina Kotushenko, Deputy Director of the IP Development Department of the Ministry of Economy, continued the series of reports, reporting on recent changes and progress in legislative activity in the field of copyright and related rights, as well as on regulating the activities of collective management organizations.
Iryna Matsyuk, Head of the Department of Cooperation with National and International Institutions in the Field of Intellectual Property of the Department of Intellectual Property Development of the Ministry of Economy, revealed the priority areas and the current state of international cooperation in the field of IP. Thus, they talked about cooperation with international and regional organizations, as well as bilateral cooperation with national IP agencies, participation in international projects.
End of the first day of IP Week
The first day of the conference ended with a report by Oksana Kashintsev, Head of the Center for Harmonization of Human and Intellectual Property Rights of the National Research Institute of Ukraine, member of the European Association of Health Law, NAAU Committee of Medical and Pharmaceutical Law and Bioethical Committee of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. ) in the context of a global pandemic. Proposals for amendments to the TRIPS Agreement during the fight against the pandemic, aimed at overcoming inequalities between developed and less developed countries, and examples of cooperation between patent holders and governments were considered. Emphasis was placed on the importance of comprehensive support for vaccine production and appropriate changes by the WTO.
During the online conference, the audience actively communicated with the speakers during the time allotted for questions and answers. At the end of the event, Iryna Matsyuk, who is also the moderator, thanked those present and invited them to participate in tomorrow’s conference.