On July 21, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as a basis in the first reading the bill №2259, which deals with the change of patent legislation. The project is called “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine (Regarding Patent Legislation Reform)”.
It is aimed at ensuring the fulfillment of Ukraine’s obligations in the field of European integration in terms of harmonizing the requirements of current legislation of Ukraine on the protection of rights to inventions and utility models with the law of the European Union.
What the draft law proposes:
- expand the list of technology objects that are not covered by legal protection;
- provide for the possibility of submitting applications in electronic form;
- give the right to any person to file a reasoned objection to the application within six months from the date of publication of the application for the invention;
- clarify the procedure for granting additional protection of rights to inventions;
- expand the list of rights and responsibilities of the subjects of rights to inventions (utility models);
- provide for the possibility of recognizing the rights to an invention and utility model as administratively invalid (“post-grant opposition”).