Solidarity with Ukraine

On 23 March 2022, Lee Davies, CIPA’s Chief Executive, wrote to Dr Andrew Kudin, Director General of Ukrpatent (the State Enterprise Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute – the equivalent of the UK’s Intellectual Property Office):

The Council of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) has asked me to convey its full support for the people of Ukraine. Our thoughts are with you all at this most difficult time and, in particular, with our friends and colleagues working in the intellectual property sector in Ukraine.

CIPA is working closely with the UK Intellectual Property Office to ensure that the UK’s economic sanctions against Russia, including those relating to intellectual property, are enforced. We are advising our members not to provide services to those on the sanctions list, either directly or indirectly through third parties. CIPA will continue to monitor the UK Government’s response to the situation in Ukraine and will liaise with contacts in the UK Intellectual Property Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for International Trade.

In these troubled times, it is difficult to think what the future might hold. We can only hope that there will come a time in the very near future when CIPA and our partner organisations in the UK can work with you to rebuild the intellectual property system in Ukraine. I was very pleased to learn that the meeting arranged by Ron Marchant, former Chief Executive of the UK IPO, went well and that we have started to identify areas where we can work together to bring about the transformation you have identified.

CIPA’s members are keen to support their Ukrainian colleagues. You may know that the UK Government has introduced ‘Homes for Ukraine’, a scheme for individuals in the UK to host refugees if there is a personal or professional contact with the family. Many CIPA members have signed up for the scheme. Please reach out to CIPA if you know of families of Ukrainian IP professionals who are seeking refuge in the UK, and we will do what we can to help create contacts with our members.

In conversations with managing partners of some of the biggest IP firms in the UK, I have been promised more support such as office space and administrative resources for Ukrainian attorneys who need to continue to work after arriving here. CIPA is also seeking to change its bye-laws, allowing Ukrainian IP professionals who reach the UK to become temporary members and to be eligible for support from CIPA’s Benevolent Association, a charity which exists to help members and their families in times of need.

We know that communication is difficult, but please do not hesitate to reach out to CIPA if there is anything more we can do to help.

On 14 April 2022, Dr Andrew Kudin sent the following response:

On behalf of all the team of Ukrpatent, I extend my sincere gratitude to you for the letter in which you express the full solidarity with all the Ukrainian people and with the community of our enterprise.

Ukraine has faced an unprecedented challenge in contemporary history and is courageously resisting the invasion, defending its right of existence, territorial integrity and the sovereignty of our state. Today the Ukrainian nation is united as never before. In this difficult time Ukrpatent is making every effort to preserve the team and ensure the continuous operation of the state system of intellectual property legal protection in Ukraine.

Let me take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the CIPA for the kind support in such a difficult for Ukraine situation. Despite the Russian aggression and martial law in Ukraine, Ukrpatent is working in regular mode and implements international obligations. We are grateful for your support and have distributed the information regarding CIPA possibilities for Ukrainian citizens through our internet resources. Also, we thank you for the measures your government and IP community have taken, for your support of Ukrainian applicants and rightholders within your jurisdiction, as well as for the humanitarian efforts of your team and your country towards Ukraine.

We look forward to cooperation with CIPA in the future in terms of development of the intellectual property system in Ukraine and Europe.

Date Published: 21 April 2022