18. Mai 2022
On 13 May, EPO President António Campinos and the State Enterprise Ukrainian Intellectual Property
Institute (Ukrpatent) Director-General, Andrew Kudin met in person at the
EPO premises in Munich, the first visit by Mr Kudin to an IP Office abroad this
year.
Following on from the previous online
meeting held on 7 April 2022, this was an opportunity to review existing
initiatives and explore new ways of assisting Ukrpatent. In view of the
exceptional situation faced by the country, the Office decided to propose an
enhanced package of support measures and cooperation activities to its
Ukrainian partner. The basis for the future co-operation was established by the
signing of a Declaration of intent.
The nature of cooperation between both
offices will take many forms but two of the most important involve people and
office orientated support. People oriented support will focus on the
possibility of developing an ad hoc programme for Ukrpatent staff, based on
secondments and internships. It has also been decided that, with the support of
the European Patent Academy, the full training catalogue will be made available
to Ukrpatent staff.
Office oriented support will take the form of re-enforcing existing IT
infrastructure and developing new processes. IT infrastructure is
vital to ensuring uninterrupted service, and discussions focused on how best to
provide IT support to Ukrpatent while reducing its costs. This will also
complement the existing measures in place, such as the suspension of EPOQUE Net
invoices.
Supporting the national innovation ecosystem was also a key issue
discussed by the two Heads of Office. They agreed that
sustaining Ukrainian innovators and the creation of domestic IP rights are
invaluable initiatives that need to be protected and elaborated upon. The
development of more specific measures has therefore been assigned to the joint
EPO-Ukrpatent task force, which will look to develop synergies between the two
offices.
Despite the extremely difficult conditions faced by Ukrpatent, and its
staff, it continues
to function both remotely and from its
headquarters. Currently, more than 600 staff are, for the most part, working
remotely. In
an address to EPO staff, the
Director-General paid a heartfelt tribute to the Ukrpatent staff for their
resilience and determination in the face of great adversity, as they continue
to provide services to stakeholders and customers.