On February 26, 2021, the Ukrainian Bar Assosiation’s Committee on Intellectual Property with the participation of Artem Tyshchenko, Head of the Department for Support to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Department for Provision of Customs Control and Clearance of the Odessa Customs, the State Customs Service, discussed the protection of intellectual property rights at customs.
Viktoria Sopilnyak, member of the UBA IP Committee’s council, partner of Doubinsky & Osharova, shared her own experience of cooperating with customs as a representative of the right holders.
She focused on the existing shortcomings in the customs laws which lead to miscommunication between the right holders and the customs.
Victoria addressed the following issues important for the effective protection of the rights of right holders at the customs border of Ukraine:
- the procedure of entering IP objects in the customs register and technical gaps in this process;
- general procedure of suspension of goods under Art. 399 of the Customs Code of Ukraine step by step: from the detection of goods which are suspected of the infringement of intellectual property rights, to their destruction or change of labeling, or appealing to the court to ensure the protection of intellectual property rights, etc.;
- what is an original product;
- who is responsible for customs clearance of the goods: the right holder or the licensee;
- customs formalities, or how to meet requirements of the customs authorities and to protect the right holder interests within 4 working hours;
- parallel imports: what are the original goods and who should determine it from the point of view of the judicial practice.