INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

John Pavolotsky

FIVE MONTHS INTO THE WAR: A REVIEW OF NEW LEGAL AND IP POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

July 1, 2022

When it had been suggested to me that I author a regular column on IP and the war in Ukraine, I had some reservations. The situation is still fluid, and as I write this article, it is clear to me that at least some of the information in it will become stale by the time of publication. That said, some of it will not, and that is as good a reason as any to keep writing. A fair amount has been written on this topic already, and the Summer 2022 issue of New Matter contains excellent articles on the then-current situation (Russia Permits Uncompensated Use of Certain Patents and Future of Russian Patents, by the IP Section’s Ben Borson; and What’s Happening in Russia – Should IP Rightsholders Be Concerned, by two very knowledgeable Finnish IP attorneys). Accordingly, I will mention some of the developments discussed in greater detail in those articles only in passing and will focus on new technical developments. In addition, I will share a few personal insights, given my potentially unique vantage point, as an IP attorney and a native of Kyiv, Ukraine. That said, please appreciate that my goal in writing this column is to inform and not to editorialize. Lastly, as I write this article, I hope that it will be my last on this topic, meaning that by the time the next article is due at New Matter, the war is over, and we are back to normal. Unfortunately, five months into the war, with no end in sight, you, the reader, should expect the next installment in the next issue of New Matter, with the unavoidable lag, but with useful information as well.