EU response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the field of IP

27 February, 2023
EU response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the field of IP
Benefits of IP
In February 2022, the Russian Federation initiated a military aggression against Ukraine. The European Union has, since then, implemented a series of sanctions, together with several initiatives to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

The EUIPO established a special Working Group to analyse and monitor the situation in the field of Intellectual Property Rights and to ensure the effective implementation of the measures decided at EU level.

  • Cooperation: the Office has halted all cooperation actions with Rospatent, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, the Eurasian Patent Organisation (EAPO) and Belarus. At the same time, the EUIPO has enhanced cooperation with the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations.
  • IP assets freeze: the EUIPO has entered ‘protective entries’ in the Registers for EU trade marks (EUTMs) and Registered Community Designs (RCDs) in relation to EUTMs or RCDs owned by the persons or entities subject to the sanction list (the ‘designated persons’). These protective entries block any transaction linked to the affected rights.
  • New registrations/proceedings: no new EUTMs or RCDs are granted to designated persons. Analogous actions are applied with respect to the International Registrations designating the EU.
  • Deadlines: several extensions of all deadlines (expiring as from February 2022) affecting parties residing or having their registered office in the Ukraine have been decided.
  • Data correction: all data regarding parties’ addresses in the Registers reflect Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders, correcting erroneous indications where necessary.
  • Review: daily screening of all incoming files for designated persons. Furthermore, the EUIPO does not engage in any transaction with designated persons and does not register new designs for products listed on the Common Military List1.

The Office continues to review the need for further extensions and additional measures as we move forward.

All these measures have been implemented in compliance with the Data Protection regulation 2. Please refer to the Data Protection statement for more information.

Read the full article here.