Intellectual property

Intellectual property includes the following types of rights:

• personal non-property rights — issues of authorship, inalienable rights. Even if a person sells the right to use a design to another person, he remains its author;
• property rights — the right to use an intellectual product. Returning to the previous example, an artist can issue an exclusive license for his design to another person and not use this design himself;
• related rights — most often used in the music industry, where the author does not always have the right to his composition. These are the rights of performers, sound engineers, phonogram producers, etc.

To avoid problems and additional complications in the field of intellectual property law, contact the specialists of the “DE-JURE” law firm.

How does a consultation on intellectual property take place?

A consultation on intellectual property rights can take place online or offline. At the client’s request, we can also provide a written explanation of how a particular industry works.

Let’s look at how a consultation takes place using one of the most common requests as an example: trademark registration. The lawyer examines a sketch of the trademark, clarifies the necessary details (in what industry the trademark will be used, whether it is black and white or color, what class of goods and services it will serve), and explains to the client the registration procedure and further actions.

What documents should a client provide to receive advice on intellectual property issues?

The documents that a client must provide depend on the request he makes to a lawyer. Thus, in the case of trademark registration, this will be a sketch of the trademark and the information discussed in the previous section. If the copyright owner sees that his work is being used for commercial or non-commercial purposes without permission by a third party, he must provide the lawyer with documents confirming the copyright. For a registered object, this is a certificate, and for an unregistered object, sketches, screenshots of pages and other evidence confirming that he is the primary author. The author also demonstrates evidence of the illegal use of his work (screenshots, photographs, etc.). The lawyer advises him on whether the use of the intellectual property object is a violation and what can be done in this situation.

If a person has given the right to use his work to another person or organization on the basis of payment of a fee (royalty), but has not received the funds as agreed, or his work is distributed in a territory that was not specified in the license, it is necessary to contact a lawyer with a license agreement.

What results can a lawyer’s help in intellectual property matters help achieve?

According to the Berne Convention and Ukrainian legislation, copyright arises from the moment of creation of an object. But in order to protect your authorship, it is recommended to register the work.

A lawyer helps protect copyright by registration, which confirms the owner’s rights and prevents illegal use of the work by third parties, and also develops agreements in the field of intellectual property that allow the transfer of rights to use and distribute works and other intellectual property objects on favorable terms for the author.

Not all objects are covered by intellectual property rights from the moment of creation. For example, the intellectual property right to a utility model comes into force from the moment of registration, and for a trademark – from the date of filing an application for registration. A copyright lawyer knows all the details and will guide the client through the entire registration process so that it is completed successfully.

What intellectual property issues do we help clients with?

Registration of intellectual property objects

Most intellectual property objects are registered by UKRNOISI (Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations). The term and procedure for registration of intellectual property rights differ depending on the object. For example, registration of a trademark consists of the following stages:

1. Checking the uniqueness of the mark, determining the classes of goods and services that will be provided under the trademark (carried out by a lawyer).
2. Preparing an application to UKRNOISI, which indicates the applicant’s data, a list of goods and the class of services under which the mark is affixed, an image of the mark, and payment of fees.
3. The decision to set the date of filing the application, which is key in disputes over trademarks. The owner of the mark is considered to be the person whose filing date was approved earlier.
4. Formal examination, during which the correctness of the application, the availability of all documents and their compliance with legal requirements are checked.
5. Qualification examination is the longest and most difficult stage, since the mark undergoes a comprehensive detailed check. It must be unique, comply with legal requirements, and cannot mislead anyone. It is at this stage that 80% of applicants receive a preliminary refusal and seek help from lawyers to prepare a response.
6. If the examination is successful and the answer satisfies the experts, the final stage is the issuance of a certificate for the trademark and its publication in a special bulletin.

From this moment on, the trademark is considered registered. The process lasts one and a half to two years, and its acceleration is impossible during a war.

Drafting license agreements, franchise schemes, sponsorship agreements

Franchise schemes are an important aspect of the activities of companies that are expanding, and the lawyers of “DE-JURE” are ready to help with the preparation of documents. Regarding license agreements, one of the clients of the “DE-JURE” law firm is the Odessa Academic Theater of Musical Comedy named after M. Vodyany, for which the lawyers handle most of the licenses for performances. This involves contacts with foreign copyright holders and the coordination of conditions in order to make them less complicated for the Ukrainian theater in war conditions. This also includes sponsorship agreements, when for a certain fee the sponsor, for example, is mentioned in promotional materials or in the performance.

Dispute resolution in the field of intellectual property

Lawyers of the company “DE-JURE” help to resolve the dispute in a pre-trial manner, if possible, and when this option is ineffective, they protect the client’s rights in court.

An important advantage of the law firm “DE-JURE” is the presence of specialists in judicial practice on staff who are ready to come to the rescue and represent the interests of the client in court.