The European Commission has published a report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the world. China was named as the most problematic country – it was called Priority 1 country for the EU because of the scale and persistence of problems in the area of IPR protection and enforcement. Ukraine is in the list of Priority 2 countries, which also includes India, Turkey, Indonesia, and Russia. Last year’s report also included Ukraine in this group.

Priority 2 means “serious systemic problems in the area of IP protection and enforcement, causing significant harm to EU businesses, with no progress or only limited progress in addressing these concerns compared to the previous year.”

Main problems in Ukraine

  • copyright piracy, especially online and satellite piracy,
  • lack of an effective system for protecting patents and data in the pharmacological and plant protection business,
  • problems with the functioning of the system of collective management of rights, which has a negative effect on the creative industry.

Besides, according to the EUIPO-OECD study on Trends in Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods 2019, Ukraine remains one of the four main transit countries for counterfeit and pirated goods destined for the EU.

Online piracy remains a serious problem for our country. Current legislation in this area was called weak in the report. According to the authors, as a result, more and more new websites with pirated content are appearing in Ukraine.

The United States Trade Representative issued a similar report. The “priority countries” listed in the report may be subject to economic sanctions by the United States. The EU may also use the economic lever to improve the situation.