The RULG - Ukrainian Legal Group is extremely active in the area of intellectual property rights (IPR). In particular, our firm has been involved in drafting crucial new legislation in this area for Ukraine. Most notably, our attorneys have participated in the Working Groups that drafted the new version of the Ukrainian Law "On Copyright and Neighboring Rights", new IPR-related articles of the Criminal Code, and Book IV of the new Civil Code, which is devoted entirely to IPR.

In addition to drafting legislation, we conduct research projects such as preparing comprehensive reports for the EU TACIS Program on the issues of retroactivity and the national regimes in copyright and neighboring rights in Russia and Ukraine.

Our attorneys also speak at international conferences on IP rights. These materials are available at relevant pages of our Web site. In particular, RULG in cooperation with INTA, co-organized three INTA interactive seminars, "Mediation as an Alternative Method for Commercial Dispute Resolution". The first seminar was held on November 29, 2005, in Kiev. This seminar was conducted under the auspices of INTA and sponsored by A/T B.A.T. - Prilucky Tobacco Company, and was aimed at building momentum and encouraging IP lawyers, patent and trademark agents, judges, legal scholars, and staff from the State Department of Intellectual Property and other Government ministries to consider and practice mediation as an ADR technique. The seminar was a success and received positive feedback from several legal and IP publications in Ukraine. Read about the seminar in the March 1st issue of the INTA Bulletin, Vol. 61, No. 5 (download the article in English), the December 2005 issue of the journal Intelektualna Vlasnist (download the article in Ukrainian and English), and in the December 2005 issue (Vol. 3, No. 12) of The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law (download the article in English). The Agenda (in Ukrainian and English) and the seminar Report (in English) are available for download.

The second seminar RULG organized together with the prominent Russian law firm, Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners in Moscow, Russia on 18 April 2006. RULG President, Dr. Irina Paliashvili spoke at the seminar on the topic of "Growing Interest in Mediation as a Method for Commercial Dispute Resolution in the Area of Intellectual Property". A brief summary of the seminar and the seminar's agenda are available in Russian. Read about the seminar in the April 2006 (#4) issue of the Russian Law Journal "Kollegia".

The third seminar was organized by RULG together with Fina LLP, a leading law firm in Azerbaijan. This seminar was held within the larger framework of the second CIS Local Counsel Forum in Baku on 22 June 2007. The seminar Agenda is available in English.

In April 2007, we won a major victory on behalf of our client, Mars Inc., in a ground-breaking unfair competition case. For the first time in Ukraine’s legal history, a violation based solely on color was recognized by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) as an act of unfair competition. This precedent opens the way for legitimate rightholders to successfully protect their IP rights in Ukraine against color-based unfair competition. The AMC treated this case as one of its most important priorities, as was reflected at the hearing, which took place in the main auditorium of the AMC and was attended by its most senior officials, including the Chairman of the AMC, Mr. Oleksiy Kostusiev. In his closing address, Mr. Kostusiev characterized the case as a very important first precedent for protecting rightholders against such unfair acts of infringers, which had not been punished in Ukraine previously. He commented on the difficulty of considering the case and also mentioned other infringements of well-known trademarks of Mars Inc., which were terminated with the help of the AMC. This case was led by RULG Partner, Ms. Tamara Lukanina and was widely covered in the business media. The article on the case, published in the AMC official journal, is available for download in the original Ukrainian version and in English translation.

Just a few other examples:

• We have represented a general corporate client, a major US-based multinational confectionary company, in all trademark protection issues in Ukraine.
• We have represented one of the world's largest consumer goods companies in an unfair-competition (false-advertising) dispute with a multinational competitor in Ukraine.
• We have acted as a local counsel in Ukraine for an international intellectual property consulting firm on behalf of several of their clients. In this manner, we assisted a major UK oil & gas company, two major multinational consumer goods companies, a steel company, and other companies, with various trademark and unfair competition disputes dealing with Ukraine.
• We have successfully completed a comprehensive project on the licensing and partial transfer-of-title of one of the best-known and prestigious Ukrainian trademarks to our client, a multinational beverage company.

We are pleased to make the following materials available:

• A list of normative acts adopted pursuant to the Law of Ukraine "On the Specifics of the Government Regulation of the Activity of Subjects of Economic Activity Associated with the Manufacture, Export, and Import of Laser-Readable Discs". (download)
• A list of some of the more important IPR-related legislation in Ukraine. (download)
• English translation of the Law of Ukraine "On the Specifics of the Government Regulation of the Activity of Subjects of Economic Activity Associated with the Manufacture, Export, and Import of Laser-Readable Discs" (download)
• English translation of the Law of Ukraine "On Copyright and Neighboring Rights". (download)
• The TACIS Retroactivity Reports for Russia (in English and Russian) and Ukraine (in English and Russian). (All four reports are also available for simultaneous download.)
• Information on the Presidential veto of the Civil Code (containing Book IV on IPR). (download)
• A presentation by Dr. Irina Paliashvili "Trademarks Protection in Ukraine", given at the Euroforum Conference "Russia/CIS: Optimal Protection, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement". The text of Dr. Paliashvili's presentation is available on this page in English and Russian.
• Agenda of the Euroforum Conference on Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Russia and the CIS, held in Moscow, Russia on January 29-30, 2002. (download).
• Dr. Paliashvili's presentation, "Key New Provisions in Ukraine's IPR Legislation", given at the Euroforum Conference on Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Russia and the CIS, Moscow, Russia, January 30, 2002. (download)
• Ms. Lukanina's presentation, "Overview of the New Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection Regime in Ukraine", given at the Euroforum Conference on Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Russia and the CIS, Moscow, Russia, January 30, 2002. (download)
• An article by Dr. Irina Paliashvili, "Overview of the New Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection Regime in Ukraine". Read the article in English or Ukrainian, or download it in MS Word format in English or Ukrainian.