Do I need registration of intellectual property in Ukraine?

One of the company’s assets that promotes services and/or sales of goods is intellectual property (hereinafter - IP). 

IP becomes valuable after its successful use. To preserve this value and prevent losses in case of copying/imitation of IP in some cases, you need to “register” IP or perform other organizational actions. 

We will explain when you need to register intellectual property and how this can be done in the easiest way. 

What is the procedure of intellectual property rights registration in Ukraine?

So, when do we talk about intellectual property registration?

1. Trademarks (hereinafter - TM) are used to enable potential consumers to distinguish different manufacturers of goods/services in the market. In this case, a person’s rights to the TM arise only through registration. 

Of course, you can use the logo without registration, for example, to mark products, but this will entail some difficulties. 

Please note! Before submitting an application for TM registration, a person does not have any rights to TM. It is practically impossible to protect the rights to the logo as a TM if it is registered or used by a third party. 

To register a TM, it is necessary to apply to Ukrpatent with the completed application, to pay fees and duties, and, if there are no reasons for rejection of TM registration, the appropriate certificate will be issued within 15-22 months. Read more about all the subtle aspects of trademark registration here.

The validity period of the TM certificate is 10 years from the date of application. It can be renewed an unlimited number of times for 10 years, provided that the appropriate fee is paid. 

Our lawyers can assess in advance the risks of rejection of TM registration and find ways to minimize these risks. 

You may also like: What To Do If Your Trademark Is Registered By A Third Party?

2. Computer programs, literary and artistic works, music are copyright-protected work. 

As a general rule, in order to obtain protection of the author’s rights to a work, its registration is not necessary, the very fact of creation is enough. 

But in the event that the work will be used illegally by a third party, it is difficult to prove that it belongs to the author and was originally created by him/her. Thus, the certificate of copyright registration will guarantee that the author’s rights will be properly protected in the future. 

However, to register the copyright it is sufficient to submit an appropriate application to Ukrpatent, pay duties and obtain a certificate within a few months. 

Please note! It’s worth paying due attention to completing all the attributes of the application, as well as to specifying information about the work, because even technical errors can lead to rejection of registration, and information about the work determines the scope of legal protection that you can count on. 

Copyright is valid throughout the life of the author, as well as 70 years after his/her death. 

If you need intellectual property protection in the context of copyright - our lawyers will help you with drawing up an application and make sure that the copyright of your work is registered. 

3. Industrial designs are needed to protect the appearance, shape of the product, its packaging and other design attributes. 

The rights to the industrial design (as in the case with TM) arise only from its registration. Otherwise, a person owns only the copyrights to an image or other item, and only provided that such item meets the criteria for protection. 

To obtain a certificate for the industrial design, you must again contact Ukrpatent and pay duties. But the formation of application materials is somewhat more complicated in this case because of the formal requirements to the description of the product, a set of images and the determination of the author, if the applicant is a legal entity. 

You can read a detailed comment of our lawyer on the process of industrial design registration here.

The validity period of property rights owned by the owner of an industrial design certificate is 5 years from the date of application. The period can be extended by 5 years once or several times. The total period of property rights to an industrial design may not exceed 25 years from the date of application. 

If you are thinking of registering a right to industrial design, our lawyers will help you to decide on the best option of protection of the product and to get an industrial design certificate for you within the shortest possible time.

4. An invention (utility model) may be a product or a way of using it, if it is new, suitable for practical application, and was not obvious to a specialist in this field (for an invention). 

The ability to protect the rights of an inventor is related to obtaining a patent. In order to obtain a patent for an invention (utility model), it is necessary to submit an application to Ukrpatent, which shall contain a formula, a description, an abstract, a set of images, as well as fee payment receipts. 

We have already described in more detail the features of obtaining a patent for an invention (utility model) here.

The validity period of the invention patent is 20 years from the date of filing the application, a patent for the useful model is issued for 10 years. 

We will help you determine the possibility of obtaining a patent for an invention (utility model), as well as prepare all the necessary documents. 

Registration of intellectual property rights allows you to protect your rights as an author, as well as your brand from counterfeiting and forgery.

If you have any questions in the field of intellectual property rights, we will be happy to answer them at a personal consultation. You can also find answers on our website.

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Learn more about intellectual property and its protection here.