On August 24, 2022, a new organization appeared in the state register of legal entities – THE STATE ORGANIZATION “UKRAINIAN NATIONAL OFFICE FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATIONS” (abbreviated – UANIPIO). In connection with the adoption of the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On some issues of the National Intellectual Property Organization” dated 10/28/2022 No. 943-Р, UANIPIO becomes an entity performing the functions of the National Intellectual Property Organization in 2022 (the National Intellectual Property Organization is the generalized name of the National Organization in accordance with the Law) and terminates their implementation by the State Organization “Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property” (abbreviated – Ukrpatent), which took care of similar functions and it was through this body that we all carried out state registrations of objects of intellectual property rights.
This is a logical and foreseen by law, and long-awaited by the professional community, a step on the way to the implementation of the planned reforms of the institutional component of the state intellectual property system, which Ukraine has been implementing since 2016.
ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP OF UANIPIO
Olena Orliuk became the leader of UANIPIO, who noted:
“Our functionality is expanding and we are considering the development of the IP sphere in an inextricable connection with innovations. The IP office sees its active role in building the innovative ecosystem of the country. Our goal is a high-quality service to help Ukraine be innovative, reputationally attractive both for national business and for the countries that currently support us, and could ensure the development of the national economy after our victory over the aggressor. The office considers itself in the full cycle of the National Intellectual Property Authority, including as a professional platform for the promotion of IP, the development of IP culture, as this is important for the development of a European-level state. The IP sphere can no longer be perceived as a sphere where corrupt actions are allowed.”
In addition, Olena Orlyuk emphasized the importance of maintaining an expert environment, attracting young personnel there, and creating high-quality databases, information resources, and the IP office website.
“The IP office is interested not only in preserving the expert corps that worked in Ukrpatent, but also in bringing back those specialists who left the patent office in recent years, training young specialists and giving them the opportunity to work in the IP office. We are interested in improving the quality of expertise, in constantly improving the qualifications of the expert corps. One of the next steps is the resumption of training and certification of patent attorneys. After all, we are interested in supporting national inventors and startups, attracting business to invest in science and inventions. Our databases, our information resources, the site must be brought in line with European practices, since Ukraine is on the way to joining the EU.”
QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICE AND INNOVATION HUB
The scope of activity of the new IP office should be aimed not only at improving the legal protection of intellectual property, but also necessarily related to innovation, increasing the culture of protection of intellectual property rights and creating a hub of a full consulting cycle for the inventor. This is the result of the implementation of the multi-vector reform of the field of IP, and the implementation of those steps that Ukraine must take as a candidate for EU accession. This was announced by the head of UANIPIO, Olena Orliuk, at a meeting with representatives of professional and business associations.
ABOUT THE IMPORTANT FACTS
– the founder of UANIPIO, like Ukrpatent, is the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine,
– these organizations have the same types of activities,
– from 08/11/22, the organization that will deal with state registrations of intellectual property objects (copyright, patents, TM, etc.) will change.
– Ukrpatent existed for 22 years and 3 months (date of establishment was 07/20/00),
– addresses and the building where UKRNOIVI is located with the new management at the same address where Ukrpatent was located,
– since July 2019, all state duties and fees related to registrations have been increased 4 times, so we monitor not only the change in payment details, but also the amounts to be paid,
– UANIPIO is also called upon to finally bring order to the system of collective management of copyright and related rights in Ukraine (a sphere with a minimum level of trust among authors due to its lack of transparency and lack of regulation regarding the system of fees and reporting).
We are waiting for improvement, digitization, high-quality service, modern personal offices for filing registration, unfreezing of more than 5 years of attestation of patent attorneys, assistance in the development of innovations in the field of intellectual activity and professional management of an extremely important direction in the world for every state.
