The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine plans before august 20, 2018 to work on the issue of the creation of the institution of public intellectual property inspectors.
The respective decision was made at the first meeting of the Intellectual Property Council on June 14, according to materials published on the ministry’s website.
According to the report presented by Deputy Minister Mykhailo Tytarchuk, funding the institution is provided at the expense of penalties for copyright infringements.
According to the report, public inspectors have the right to conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections to identify violations in the field of intellectual property. In addition, the law imposes on them the function of bringing infringers to administrative responsibility – through registration of administrative protocols and sending them to court. In case of revealing signs of criminal offenses, the public inspector sends relevant materials to law enforcement agencies.
However, today there is no such institution in Ukraine, which forces intellectual property entities to apply to court in case of violations, the ministry said.
The ministry pointed out the need for this step in the context of the “Special Report 301” issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The Cabinet of Ministers established the Intellectual Property Council as a consultative and advisory body on February 7, 2018.
INSPECTOR, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
