On 23 and 24 October, Agris Batalauskis, Director of the Latvian Patent Office, took part in a meeting co-organized by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovation (UANIPIO) in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, the purpose of which was to discuss the future cooperation activities. During the visit, the work plan was signed for the next two years, which aims to provide support for Ukraine's integration into the European Union (EU).
The participants of the two-day visit to Kyiv were the EUIPO delegation headed by João Negrão, EUIPO Executive Director, the heads of the national intellectual property (IP) offices from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Moldova, and the UANIPIO delegation. The purpose of the event was to consolidate the cooperation between the EUIPO, the EU Member States' IP institutions and the UANIPIO, as well as to discuss how to support the activities of the Ukrainian colleagues aimed at the integration into the EU. The war in Ukraine has a significant effect on the IP field, which will need recovery, as it is critical for improving the investment environment in the post-war period.
On the second day of the visit, the cooperation plan for the next two years was signed, aimed at providing the UANIPIO with the support related to the management of IP rights, including the harmonisation of trademark and design registration and examination practices, and staff training. Also, the representatives of the Ukrainian IP office will be able to receive information on studies on the impact of IP on the economy, and the work plan will provide opportunities for the inclusion of Ukrainian trademarks and designs in the EUIPO’s databases.
“The IP protection is one of those areas that is essential for the economic development of the country, and it is critical for Ukraine to rebuild its national economy after the war. We see Ukraine as a European country, and it has always been an important cooperation partner for us in various fields, including the protection of IP. The Baltic States and Poland have been members of the EU, EUIPO and other IP organizations for several years, so we are ready to provide our support and share our experience so that Ukraine recovers as quickly as possible and becomes a truly European country," noted Agris Batalauskis, Director of the Latvian Patent Office, after his visit to Ukraine.
On the last day of the meeting, its members visited the war-torn city of Bucha, whose residents experienced a particularly brutal attack by the Russian army last year, when more than 300 civilians were killed, but many more were maimed and injured.