During a recent roundtable organized by the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in Kiev, a majority of those present -- mostly IP practitioners -- supported the idea of legislation to introduce an administrative appeal against IPO decisions on registered industrial designs and utility models.

At present, Ukraine has no substantive examination procedures for industrial design and utility model applications. Their absence encourages copying and registration of identical or similar designs and utility models, mostly in bad faith. Worse still, since registered industrial designs and utility models are recorded in the customs register of IP rights, the movement of legitimate goods across the border may also be prevented.

The Ukrainian PTO's plan for the future system exists in outline only right now, but the main idea is to place a Board within the PTO which would be in charge of considering appeals, organizing substantive examinations and making decisions on invalidation of IP rights. Interested parties would be able to appeal the Board’s decisions in court, but the PTO is aiming to make the procedure faster and less expensive compared to the judicial procedure of invalidation currently available. It is expected that the draft laws containing these amendments will be completed and published in July-August 2015.

Source: Yuriy Karlash, "Ukraine Considers Introducing Administrative Appeal Against Industrial Designs And Utility Models", Petosevic news, 27 May 2015