KYIV. Aug 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers held a meeting on Tuesday on reforming the state system for protecting intellectual property rights and the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine was instructed to draw up five key draft laws to reform the state intellectual property rights protection system, the ministry said on its website.
The main problems of the sector were outlined at the meeting: among the largest problems are the violation of intellectual property rights online, non-payment of royalties to state-owned media, and the absence of clear rules for organizing the collective management of copyright and related rights.
“After the meeting it was decided to order that the Economic Development and Trade Ministry is to present five key draft laws, which would be the basis for the reform of the state intellectual property rights protection system, for the cabinet’s discussion within one month,” the report said.
The core principles of the reforms are protection of intellectual property rights online, regulation of the royalty collection market, prevention of patent trolling, relaxation of the intellectual property rights protection procedure in IT, public access to licenses, and toughening of punishments for violations of intellectual property rights.
In addition, the ministry, jointly with the State Service for Intellectual Property, is to conduct a stocktaking of the use of PCs and software in power agencies and offer an action plan to legalize software in public institutions.
