Theory and practice of intellectual property
№ 6 / 2023

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

PDF (Ukrainian)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33731/62023.293294

Submitted     2023-11-22
Accepted      2023-11-40
Published      2023-12-17

The role and the place of forensic expertise in trademark rights protection cases

Natalia Minchenko
Researcher of the Department of Protection of Intellectual Rights of the Intellectual Property Scientific Research Institute of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, forensic expert
Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1835-3803

Evgenia Nedogibchenko
Researcher of the Department of Protection of Intellectual Rights of the Intellectual Property Scientific Research Institute of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine
Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7485-0110

Abstract
The largest number of litigations in the field of intellectual property is disputes regarding the violation of property rights to trademarks. Forensic examination under procedural law is one of the types of evidence in litigation. The expert opinion for the court has no pre-established force and is evaluated by the court together with other evidence according to the rules established by the procedural legislation. The article studies the issue of appointment of forensic expertise, its evaluation by the court, as well as determining the role of forensic examination of intellectual property objects in the economic process based on an analysis of judicial practice for making a decision by the courts in this category of cases.

The expert opinion can be provided at the request of the participant in the case or based on a court decision on the appointment of an examination.

At the same time, for example, in resolving disputes related to the invalidation of certificates for marks for goods and services on the grounds of non-compliance of registered marks with the conditions for providing legal protection, to clarify issues requiring special knowledge of the court, it is necessary, if the similarity is not obvious, to appoint a forensic examination, without taking over the functions of an expert not inherent in the court.

With the adoption in 2017 of new procedural legislation in the field of forensic examination of intellectual property, significant changes arose, which primarily relate to the procedure for appointing examinations. Thus, the parties participating in the case had the opportunity to independently order an examination and submit it to the court along with other types of evidence.

These changes have led to a situation where many court cases contain two or more expert opinions that contain opposite results of the study. In some cases in this situation, the court appointed another examination.

The conducted analysis of judicial practice made it possible to establish that such evidence as an expert opinion drawn up on the results of a forensic examination, obtained by order of a participant in the case or appointed by a court decision, in most cases becomes one of the most significant evidence in the case and directly affects the court’s decision.

Keywords: judicial examination, intellectual property, protection of rights, evidence, judicial practice

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