Intellectual Property in Ukraine - How to Apply to the AMCU?

[/en/] About News Legislation Case Law Forms of Documents State Autorities Law Firms Design Agencies Assignment Commercial Name Commercial Secret Copyright Franchising Industrial Designs Inventions License Agreements Related Rights Trademarks Utility Models How to Apply to the AMCU? How to Apply to the AMCU? Applying to Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine is one of the methods of IP right protection. This method is acceptable when actions of right infringer consist of elements of unfair competition. Unfair competition is understood as any actions performed against to the rules, trade, and other fair customs in business activities (article 1 of Act of Ukraine "On protection against unfair competition" (further - Act)). Concerning infringement of rights for intellectual property objects The Act provides next actions which can be qualified as acts of unfair competition: 1. Unlawful use of others' trademarks, advertising materials, and packing It is the most wide-spread type of unfair competition that can lead to confusion with other business entity's practice by use of identical or similar trademarks, appearance of goods, packaging etc. 2. Unlawful use of goods made by other manufacturers It happens when a manufacturer circulates goods made by other manufacturers and in the same time pretends to be their manufacturer by changing the trademark and the information about the manufacturer. 3. Copying goods' outward appearance Copying goods' outward appearance is understood as making goods that copy appearance of goods which belong to other business entities. Besides, the infringer tries to point non-clearly or doesn't point at all the information about the real manufacturer of the goods for they are perceived by user as goods of the well-known producer. Such actions can lead to mixing with activity of other person and mislead buyers. 4. Comparative Advertising There are two types of comparative advertising: - positive - statement, that our product is as good as the other product; - negative - statement, that our product is better than the other. Both types of comparative advertisement can be recognized as acts of unfair competition because first case states unlawful appropriation of other's reputation and second - possible discrediting of the producer. 5. Discrediting business entities Discrediting a business entity is understood as spreading any form of untruthful or inaccurate information about the entity which can damage business reputation. Spreading such information is usually made to attract clients of competitor. 6. Unlawful actions concerning trade secret The unlawful actions can be the following: - collecting information which is a trade secret - getting through unlawful ways the information considered to be trade secret, in case these actions infringed business entity. - divulging trade secret - unlawful introducing the information which is a trade secret to third parties by a person possessing this information. - declination to divulge trade secret - making the person possessing information to be considered as a trade secret to divulge it. - unlawful use of trade secret - use of trade secret information unlawfully in business activity. On revelation of such actions by business entities the IP rights owner can apply to the Antimonopoly Committee or its territorial departments. The application should be submitted: - to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine - if the consequences of the infringement take place on the whole territory of Ukraine; - to the territorial department of Antimonopoly Committee - if the consequences of infringement are limited by corresponding territorial market. The term of such applying is 6 months from the date, when the rights owner has found out or must to find out about rights infringement. ATTANTION! Missing terms of filing application is the ground to refuse its acceptance. The legal investigation procedure of cases on unfair competition is described in Chapter VII of Act of Ukraine "On protecting economic competition" from January 11, 2001, No. 2210-III. Antimonopoly committee starts legal investigation of a case on unfair competition on the following grounds: - application from rights owners; - requests of state authorities; - on own initiative. The applications for unfair competition is arranged in writing and must contain the following data: - name of the state institution where the application should be submitted; - name, post address and other information (fax, telephone number) of the applicant; - name, post address and other information of the defendant; - matter of the requests and summary of circumstances by which the applicant proves his requests; - list of documents attached to the application; - signature of the applicant or his representative with indication of filing date of application. The materials by which the applicant proves his requests should be attached to the application. Term for consideration of application is 30 days. In certain cases this term can be extended to 60 days. After consideration of the application the Antimonopoly Committee issues an instruction: - on commencement of legal investigation under the case - in case of revelation of indications of unfair competition; - on refusal of legal investigation under the case - in cases of absence of such indications. In case of issuing instruction on commencement of legal investigation the Antimonopoly Committee submits: - notification on commencement of legal investigation - to the declarant and third parties; - instruction on commencement of legal investigation - to the defendant (within three days from its issue). During legal investigation under the case the Antimonopoly Committee: - accepts explanations of the parties concerning the case; - collects evidences; - initiates examination if it is necessary; - accepts other information that can be used as evidences in the case. The Antimonopoly Committee makes following decisions on the base of received materials and information: - recognizing the fact of unfair competition; - terminating unfair competition; - official refutation of untruthful, inaccurate or incomplete information, at the expense of the guilty party; - imposing penalties; - requisitioning unlawfully marked goods or duplicated goods originally made by a different manufacturer; - disaffirmation or alterations by officials to their unlawfully adopted acts or breaking their completed agreements. The decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and its territorial departments can be disputed in court by the interested parties within thirty days of the receipt of a copy of the decision. How to protect IP rights in Ukraine? How to apply to the Court? How to apply to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine? To request Legal Advise About creator Your opinion