The Commission Member Roman Sabodash took part in the EU-Ukraine Dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights on October 19, 2023.
The event was also attended by representatives of the European Union, the High Council of Justice, the state organization “Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations”, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, and other authorities.
Co-Chair of the Dialogue, the Deputy Head of the Investment and Intellectual Property Division of the Directorate-General for Trade Agata Gerba welcomed the participants on the resumption of the annual meetings, the last of which was held in January 2022. She expressed her gratitude to the Ukrainian side for the constructive cooperation, despite the current conditions in the country.
During the discussion regarding institutional reform and development of legislation in the field of Intellectual Property Rights, Roman Sabodash noted that the issue of establishing the High Intellectual Property Court is currently under consideration by the Commission. It is essential to identify the current state of affairs with candidates to this court, find out how they were affected by military operations after the full-scale invasion, and consider their desire to continue participating in the competition. He further underscored the need to complete the procedure for verifying the practical assignments fulfilled by the candidates.
Mr. Sabodash highlighted that the Commission is working on finding the best mechanisms to fulfil its obligations as soon as possible in this context.
The participants of the Dialogue also had an opportunity to discuss a number of important issues related to the implementation of Intellectual Property Rights during martial law, copyright reform, development and harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis, etc.
We would like to remind that the Dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights was initiated by the European Commission and Ukraine in April 2006 to address issues in the field of intellectual property being of interest to both parties.
