The speakers on the subject were Inventa Company employees: patent agent Yevgeniy Stogniy and legal adviser Natalia Moroz.
In his presentation, patent agent Ye. Stogniy dwelled on the main provisions of the new Customs Code of Ukraine of 13.03.2012 No. 4495-VI, which are focused on protecting IP rights when goods cross the customs border of Ukraine.
Cancelling the cash collateral, which according to the previous version of the Customs Code of Ukraine was 1,000 euro, simplified the procedure of entering IP subject-matter into the Customs IP Registry. Besides, the rights of IP patent owners in the new Customs Code were extended by entering into the Customs IP Registry, along with trademarks, geographical designations, industrial designs, and inventors' and associated rights, such subject-matter as inventions, utility models and plant varieties. All these amendments increased dramatically the amount of IP subject-matter entered into the Customs IP Registry during 2012-2014, and entailed a side effect in the form of explosive patent trolling in Ukraine.
The main reason of the explosive growth of IP subject-matter entered into the Customs IP Registry was Ukrpatent's formal procedure of granting patents for utility models and industrial designs, i.e. the procedure of granting patents with an examination on merits. On the one hand, as proved by statistical data, this resulted in an increasing rate of patenting utility models and industrial designs in Ukraine. On the other hand, this was evidenced by the animation of patent trolls. They managed to ensure the acquiring of a big number of patents for well-known products, mostly, industrial design patents of Ukraine. These products, protected by industrial patents of Ukraine, were as follows: shoulder frames, rubber stoppers for pharmaceutical products, and matchboxes and matches known well since childhood.
All this was a challenge for customs authorities in protecting rights to IP subject-matter when goods crossed the customs boundary, and evoked new problems related to placing IP subject-matter on customs control.
Inventa's legal adviser, N. Moroz, stated in her speech that IP subject-matter is a means for competition in the goods and services market. Registration of trademarks and patents for inventions, utility models and industrial designs helps their owners exercise IP rights to fortify their positions in the Ukrainian market. Next, N. Moroz analysed concrete requirements to documents that must be submitted to the customs authorities of Ukraine for entering IP subject-matter into the Customs IP Registry, and offered advice on how to fill out these documents.
Those attending the event demonstrated their professional interest in the problems being discussed. The listeners asked the speakers questions, in particular, about claims by Inventa to customs authorities due to their refusal to enter certain IP subject-matter into the Customs IP Registry of Ukraine.