PATENT LEGISLATION REFORM (2020): MAIN INNOVATIONS OF INVENTIONS (UTILITY MODELS)
Authors: Tarasenko Leonid 
Published: August 2022

The article considers the main innovations of current legislation concerning inventions and utility models. The conditions for granting legal protection of an invention (utility model), the procedure for filing and considering an application for an invention and a utility model, the application of «pre grant opposition» and «post grant opposition» procedures, and ways to protect patent rights are studied and analyzed. The author proves the importance of creating a national patent office (NIPO) in Ukraine. The article substantiates the need to adopt a separate law on NIPO instead of duplicating the rules on the legal status of NIPO, its structure, competence, etc. in several legislative acts. The author determines that the law eliminated the inaccuracy in the definition of a patent that certifies intellectual property rights to an invention and utility model, rather than ownership of them. This is fully consistent with the application of the theory of exclusive rights in the legislation of Ukraine on intellectual property. The article states that the law provides for only two types of patents (excluding secret and official inventions, utility models): a patent for an invention granted for 20 years based on the results of a qualifying examination, and a patent for a utility model granted for 10 years based on the results of a formal examination. The author notes that this patent by its legal nature remains declaratory, and it is granted under the responsibility of the applicant. The researcher proves the importance of legislative innovations, which eliminated the possibility of granting so-called «evergreen patents» (by improving the content of the inventive step as a condition of patentability). The article substantiates the need for a legislative solution to the issue of ownership of property patent rights to an official invention (utility model). The author notes that the reform of patent legislation (2020) bypassed the improvement of legal regulation on the use of inventions (utility models) taking into account digitalization (in particular, the legal regime «computer implemented inventions» is not defined). The researcher proves that the publication of information about the application for the invention is important, because from that moment the application becomes public, and an indefinite number of people have the opportunity to read its contents, and may see the technical essence of the invention. The author justifies the need to transfer the authority to decide on the issuance of compulsory licenses to the National Intellectual Property Office (or a specialized court after its creation). The article finds that instead of invalidating a patent for an invention (utility model), it was introduced that the rights to an invention (utility model) might be recognized as invalid, which is not currently accepted by case law. The article proves that an important innovation of the patent law reform (2020) is the introduction of a procedure for declaring inventions (utility model) invalid out of court («post-grant opposition») in order to curb the practice of patenting by unscrupulous applicants of well-known technical solutions.