Region: Ukraine

The Kiev Commercial Court has upheld an invalidation action against the mark NOVIJ SCHEMCHUG (meaning 'new pearl') for toothpaste. The court found that the mark was confusingly similar to the earlier SCHEMCHUG mark (meaning 'pearl') for the same type of goods.

28 October 2004

In <em>Povaliy v Ukrainian Macaroni Ltd</em>, the Commercial Court of Kiev has upheld a complaint brought by the plaintiff - a Ukrainian singer – and has ordered the cancellation of the defendant’s TAYA trademark. It found that the mark was identical to the plaintiff’s famous Taya stage name and had been used without her consent.

06 July 2004

Pursuant to recent amendments to the Ukrainian Trademark Act, the Kiev Economic Court has for the first time recognized a number of marks as well-known trademarks. The decisions apply to the trademark EUROPA PLUS and its Cyrillic counterpart, and to a series of MCDONALD'S marks.

13 May 2004

Amendments to the Advertising Act removing the controversial requirementto translate all trademarks into Ukrainian have come into force. The rule, introducedlast year, was considered contrary to the provisions of Article 6<i>quinquies</i>of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

29 March 2004

A number of changes to Ukrainian trademark law and practice are likely to occur in the near future. The Ministry of Ukraine is currently considering changes to the official fees charged for trademark registrations. New rules giving the Appeal Board of the Ukrainian Patent Office the authority to grant certain marks with well-known trademark status have also been announced.

03 March 2004

New rules on trademark registration and use will come into force when the new Civil Code of Ukraine takes effect on January 1 2004. The new code introduces provisions on international registration into Ukrainian law for the first time and also establishes a right of prior use.

12 December 2003

Business and legal circles in Ukraine have roundly condemned as "vague" and "unlawful" a new rule introduced by amendments to the Advertising Act. The amendments provide that (i) all trademarks used by Ukranian companies in advertising in Ukraine must be exclusively in Ukrainian, and (ii) where a foreign firm's trademark is used in advertising, it must also appear with its equivalent meaning in Ukrainian.

21 November 2003

Amendments to the Trademark Act have come into force. The amendments set out procedures for the recognition of well-known marks, which until now have only been protected by the Paris Convention. They further state that the acts of preparation prior to an act of trademark infringement may also infringe that mark. A new fee structure for trademark registration has also been announced.

22 September 2003

Thousands of desirable '.com.ua' domain names have today became available for registration by new owners. According to the '.com.ua' domain name policy, all existing third-level domain names had to be re-registered before midnight last night.

04 November 2002

Ukraine's Parliament has passed a law that amends the country's intellectual property legislation to protect trademarks and service marks on the Internet. Selling goods or services with an unauthorized mark online is now unlawful, as is cybersquatting.

30 September 2002