Theory and practice of intellectual property
№ 3 / 2018

ISSN (Print) 2308-0361
ISSN (Online) 2519-2744

PDF (Ukrainian)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33731/32018.156011

Published      2018-06-26

Legal protection of geographical indications in the context of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU

Volodymyr Kryvolapchuk
Ukraine

Svitlana Fyl
Ukraine

Abstract
The article deals with the issue of harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with EU norms in the field of protection of geographical indications. The legal regulation of the protection of geographical indications in Ukraine and the EU is considered. The attention is drawn to divergences in the norms of domestic legislation in the field of the protection of geographical indications related to the discrepancy of the conceptual apparatus and the ambiguity of the definition of the subjects of IPR in geographical indications. It is noted that in order to establish a unified conceptual device for geographical indications in Ukraine, the legislator should consolidate the definition of «geographical indications» in the norms of the Central Committee of Ukraine and replace the term «indication of the origin of goods» and its derivatives with «geographical indication» in the Law of Ukraine «On the protection of rights to indication of the origin of goods «and by-laws, which establish the procedure for acquiring rights to the specified object. Dispositions of Articles 201–211 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU in the field of the protection of geographical indications are analyzed and it is established that the norms of the Agreement determine the wider content of the geographical indications and their scope of legal protection; expand the list of geographical indications; reveal the essence of the mechanism of protection of similar (homonymous) names; define a clear procedure for the correlation of geographical indications with trademarks; provide for the creation of a subcommittee on geographical indications from representatives of the EU and Ukraine. The issues of bringing the protection of geographical indications in Ukraine in compliance with the norms of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU are highlighted.

Keywords: geographical indications, Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, legal protection