The situation with the observance of intellectual property rights in Ukraine remains tense, despite some progress in the fight against piracy. This is stated in the annual report “Special 301 report” (“Special 301” report) published by the Office of United States trade representative (USTR).
“Quite a lot of organizations-violators continue to freely operate in Ukraine, collecting royalties, but not distributing them to the legitimate right holders”, – the document says.
According to the report, the U.S. hopes that in the near future the Ukrainian government will finalize and adopt the draft law concerning improvement of activities of collective management organizations for the collection of royalties.
The report also draws attention to the fact that Ukraine has not made sufficient systemic progress in reducing the use of unlicensed software, although preliminary steps have been taken.
“In specific government agencies managed to achieve some success in reducing the use of unlicensed software, however, it seems that there is no centralized approach or sufficient funds allocated for the transition of government-authorized software”, – the report says.
According to the document, Internet piracy remains a significant problem in Ukraine and encourages piracy in other markets. In particular, pirate movies, created as a result of illegal videos are exhibited on the Internet, which causes market damage.
“However, this year the site ex.ua was closed, in addition, law enforcement officers shut down fs.to, one of the biggest pirate websites in Ukraine. Despite this, the other sites continue to operate outside of Ukraine, including extratorrent.cc and MP3VA.com” – States the report.
As reported, USTR left Ukraine in the list of major violators of intellectual property rights (Priority Watch List).
Experts USTR praised some steps taken by Ukraine to improve the protection of intellectual property rights.
Among other things, in the office enthusiastic about the adoption in 2016 of the legislative frameworkaimed at the creation of the Supreme specialized court on intellectual property, which should begin its work in September 2017.
Positive opinion of American experts have received the decision on liquidation of the State service of intellectual property, which for a long time been criticized for the opaque and biased activities.
According to the Ministry of economic development of Ukraine, discreet, positive feedback was also received regarding the decision to improve the activities of collective management organizations for the collection of royalties, including the relevant draft law developed by the Ministry with assistance from the world intellectual property organization with the participation of representatives of international organizations in the field of collective management and expert environment.
Separately spectacled notes the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the law “On state support of cinematography in Ukraine” as a reflection of the new political will of the country on the problems and solutions in the field of intellectual property rights.
Earlier, the international intellectual property Alliance (IIPA) in March recommended that the USTR to leave Ukraine for the current year in Priority Watch List, and gradually to suspend or cancel the benefits for her if the Ukrainian government does not demonstrate progress in resolving the problems of enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Ukraine has received the status of “pirate” countries in 2013, but sanctions it was not applied because of the complicated political situation.
