With the wide spread of information technologies in the modern world, Ukraine needs laws covering the accumulation and protection of intellectual property in the country. Such was the bottom line of the press conference held on March 22 in Verkhovna Rada by the chairman of the Ukraine: Twenty-First Century Fund for Intellectual Cooperation, Doctor of Science in economics, and People’s Deputy Bohdan HUBSKY, the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician Borys PATON, and the Director of the Institute for Economic and Legal Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician Valentyn MAMUTOV.
It would be a misconception to say that there is no legislation in Ukraine aimed a protecting intellectual property. Nonetheless, the available legislation fails to cover a multitude of issues incurring considerable material losses for the state and making our gifted scholars lose their leading positions in the priority areas of science.
Unfortunately, the majority of state-owned and commercial entities are still not versed in how to timely and competently protect their copyrights to a trademark, invention, or prototype model, Bohdan Hubsky stated. One legislative priority is to attain a situation whereby every producer and citizen of Ukraine would be able to legalize his or her rights to an invention, development model, trademark, copyrights for literary, scientific, or fiction works, as well as for other kinds of intellectual property. Only the enactment of an effective and flexible legal basis protecting intellectual property and adapted to world standards can improve the situation.
According to Mr. Hubsky, the system of legal measures aimed at securing protection of intellectual property rights in Ukraine should consist of two blocks.
The first should bring the existing legislation into conformity with global trends in intellectual property commerce. We should begin by enacting normative and legal acts aimed at protecting rights to inventions, prototype models, service, and trademarks, as well preventing unfair competition. The underlying concepts on protecting intellectual property should be included in the Civil, Civil Procedural, and other Codes of Ukraine. Most important, the liability for the illegal use of intellectual property should be included in the Criminal and Administrative Codes. Up to now, no reliable mechanism protecting rights to commercial secrets and imposing sanctions for copyright infringements has existed in Ukraine. Ukraine’s domestic markets remain unprotected due to inadequate countermeasures to the import of counterfeit goods violating intellectual property rights. A common shortcoming here is the lack of criteria for establishing the value of intellectual property.
Simultaneously, Hubsky believes, lawmakers should concentrate on preparing new legislation to fill the void in regulating ownership relationships in the area of intellectual property. The primary requirement for these laws should be that they anticipate possible developments in the area, a demand stemming from the nature of intellectual products such as software or databases which are open to high speed dissemination and inherent change. In this respect, the people’s deputy stressed the importance of regulating the activities of representatives in the intellectual property area and clarifying the relationships within the global information system, Internet.
Academicians Borys Paton and Valentyn Mamutov tried to make a strong case for harmonizing the Ukrainian copyright legislation with international laws. In their opinion, this will create favorable conditions for Ukrainian producers and greatly enhance the country’s image abroad. These prominent scholars expressed their gratitude to the fund for uniting the efforts of specialists, outlining major goals and offering ways to legally solve the existing problems.
