#04 April 2015

In focus – IP

This is a global trend showing that the market share of intellectual property in Internet is getting stronger. In practice new questions appear for trademarks, designs, domain names and copyright. And basically brand owners need expertise in the digital economy. Ukraine is no exception. In light of the ongoing discussion on investment attractiveness of Ukraine, IP is crucial. Global investors with a strategic market vision look for smart monetization of their IP assets, as well as the ability to enforce their IP rights against infringers…

With the support of Tax Regulation

On 12 March 2015 the First International Forum Transfer pricing — 2015 was held at the Opera Hotel in Kiev. Its main objective was to inform attendees about the most recent novelties of the relevant legislation, the practice of its application in Ukraine, as well as the experience of other countries. About 100 participants attended the forum. The Forum was opened by its organizers Yaroslav Romanchuk, managing partner of International Legal Center EUCON, and Larysa Vrublevska, managing partner of the International Audit Union

Expert Opinion

Exhaustion of IPR Regime in Ukraine in Light of Association Agreement

Anastasiia V. Poels

The Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the one hand, and Ukraine, on the other (Association Agreement), signed last year, is an international agreement with the purpose of integrating Ukraine into the European Union’s internal market (integration without membership), which is conditional upon the successful regulatory approximation of Ukrainian legal system to the European acquis communautaire in various areas...

In Re

Well-known Marks — How to Keep them Protected

Oksana V. Horban

It is a growing trend around the world that dishonest registrants try to register well–known marks or their reproduction, imitation or translation (disputed marks), and Ukraine is no exception. Accordingly, the question arises — what instrumentality does Ukrainian law offer to owners of well-known marks to protect themselves from registrations of disputed marks?The simple “two-step” checklist may prove useful.

Having ratified the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (the Paris Convention) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(the TRIPS Agreement) Ukraine was obliged to implement the standards of protection of well-known marks into national legislation…

Protection of Trademark Rights on the Internet

Julia M. Semeniy, Mariana A. Polishchuk

Nowadays, as virtually any business and trademark is represented on the Internet, one crucially needs to have efficient mechanisms to protect its trademark from unauthorized use in the worldwide web. Generally, such unauthorized use may include use of the trademark on web-pages. For example, for promotional purposes or in the course of online marketing of products, etc., and in domain names. As any other infringement, the above-mentioned activities may cause confusion and affect the reputation and profit of the trademark owner...

Copyright Triggers New Concept for Cooperation in the Internet

Oleksandr S. Mamunya

For quite a few years now copyright holders suffering significantly from infringements in the Internet and intellectual property professionals protecting the former have been talking about the necessity to establish clear rules for copyright protection in the said area. Moreover, the community has realized that to make the protection process really effective intermediaries like Internet service providers, including hosting providers (the ISPs), should also be somehow engaged in the said protection. This idea has come to the minds of Ukrainian intellectual property practitioners, inter alia, in light of the successful foreign regulations for copyright protection in the Internet engaging ISPs and the respective practice by foreign colleagues...

Cover Story

Intellectual Property 2.0

Ratification of the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and chronic “bad” news on the other side of the Atlantic regarding the Special 301 Report provide continued challenges in terms of improving intellectual property protection and enforcement. However, this is not something to discourage but more to recognize that without improvement of IP protection there will be no step forward. Moreover, the current “stress test” for all businesses is a good opportunity to rethink what really matters for successful and sustainable business, improve internal business processes and make business efficient.

We met Nazar Chernyavsky and Oleksandr Padalka, partners at a leading Ukrainian law firm, Sayenko Kharenko, to discuss and hear their thoughts on how brand protection could improve the situation with intellectual property protection and bring added value for business...

How To

Why are IP Issues so Important in Bankruptcy?

Anton O. Polikarpov, Tetyana O. Slabko

The ongoing economic situation is continually putting the Ukrainian market to the test. As a result, a lot of companies fall into insolvency proceedings. Finding themselves in such a mess the parties of the bankruptcy proceedings used to pay attention just to the matters related to the debtor’s tangible assets and issues concerning intangible assets are often simply lost. However, commonly this kind of asset may be the most valuable. Therefore, we present those issues in the IP sphere, which are definitely important within bankruptcy proceedings in Ukraine...

Argument

A Tale of Two APIs

Denys I. Beregovyi

News related to APIs appears quite often in tech-related media. For instance, LinkedIn restricted recently access to its API, so now it is only accessible to approved partners. Some years earlier Twitter limited the use of API for client applications. Today’s reality is that the entire IT-industry deals with APIs, some corporations even publish books on APIs1 that are “one of the fastest growing technologies in the IT industry”. In aggregate, we can say that APIs have already become an independent stream of IT-business so they just cannot be ignored...

Crux

Deregulation in Practice

Ukraine’s statements on deregulation are finally being translated into legislation. The Acts of Ukraine On Licensing of Certain Types of Business Activity of 2 March 2015, No.222-VIII and On Changes to Some Acts of Ukraine on Facilitating Business (Deregulation) of 12 February 2015, No.191-VIII have already been signed by the President of Ukraine. The UJBL initiated discussion on significant provisions of these comprehensive documents, which are not widely commented on in the media. We suggest dwelling specifically on the proposed initiatives.

 

Deals

Deals

-EPAP Ukraine advised on USD 500 million exchange offer made by Ferrexpo-

-Vasil Kisil & Partners — legal advisor to one of the largest banks in Ukraine-

-CMS Cameron McKenna advised Horizon Capital and Zubr Capital-

Cases

Cases

-Doubinsky & Osharova defended Tiffany & Company -

-FCLEX defended Bilanivskyy Mining and Processing Plant -

-Doubinsky & Osharova defended Inkerman-

Draft

Draft

-Protecting investors’ rights-

-Foreign currency settlements-

-Taxation of non-profits-

Law Digest

Law Digest

-Tax administration-

-Procedure to calculate the unified social tax for obligatory social insurance has been changed-

-Lower quorum for all joint stock companies-

 

Chamber News

Chamber News

-Business and civil society demand the reform of AMCU-

-Ministry of Infrastructure considers investments in seaport sector-

UBA News

European integration within eyeshot

On 20 March 2015 the Ukrainian Bar Association, together with Investment & Trade Facilitation Center (ITFC), held the first international conference “Association Agreement: for all and sundry”, devoted to the sharpest questions of Ukraine’s European integration. Within the framework of the conference leading experts from legal, academic, business and governmental circles discussed basic provisions of the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement...

Biznews

Biznews

-Interparfums S.A., concluded deal to acquire the Rochas brand-

-Philips ranks first among European based companies on EPO ranking-

-Market research of services by pharmaceutical retailers-

-Kiev turns into the most inexpensive city in Europe-

 

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