Advocates and Lawyers in IP Matters

1. Who are lawyers?

A lawyer in Ukraine is a natural person who practices law on the grounds and in the manner prescribed by the Law of Ukraine "On Advocacy and Law" (hereinafter referred to as the Law). A natural person who has a full higher legal education, speaks the state language in accordance with the level determined in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language", has work experience in the field of law for at least 2 years, has passed a qualification exam, can be a lawyer. completed an internship (6 months, can be extended for a period of up to 3 months), took the oath of a lawyer of Ukraine and received a certificate of the right to practice law.

An Advocate (Attorney at Law) has a much wider range of competences than a Lawyer to provide effective legal assistance, among which can be highlighted Advocate’s confidentiality, Advocate’s request, the possibility of filing a statement to stop the violation committed by the website owner. Advocate’s secret is any information that became known to the Advocate about the client (including an Advocate’s assistant, an Advocate’s trainee, a person who is in an employment relationship with an Advocate), as well as matters from which the client (a person who was refused to enter into a contract on the provision of legal aid on the grounds provided for by this Law) addressed to the Advocate, the content of advice, consultations, explanations, compiled documents, information stored on electronic media, and other documents and information received by the Advocate during the performance of the Advocate’s activities. Advocate secrecy guarantees confidentiality in relations between a client and an Advocate, because the law prohibits demanding disclosure of attorney secrecy by an Advocate and employees of his office.

2. What is advocacy?

Advocacy is the independent professional activity of an Advocate regarding protection, representation and provision of other types of legal assistance to the client Defense - a type of Advocate’s activity, which consists in ensuring the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a suspect, the accused, a defendant, the convicted, the acquitted, a person in relation to whom the use of coercive measures of a medical or educational nature is expected or the question of their use in criminal proceedings is being decided, a person , in relation to which the issue of extradition to a foreign state (extradition) is being considered, as well as a person who is brought to administrative responsibility during the consideration of a case on an administrative offense Representation - a type of Advocate’s activity, which consists in ensuring the implementation of the rights and obligations of the client in civil, economic, administrative and constitutional proceedings, in other state bodies, before natural and legal entities, the rights and obligations of the victim during the consideration of administrative cases offense, as well as the rights and obligations of the victim, civil plaintiff, civil defendant in criminal proceedings.

3. Types of Advocacy?

Types of advocacy are:

Provision of legal information, consultations and clarifications on legal issues, legal support for the activities of legal entities and individuals, state authorities, local self-government bodies, and the state
Drawing up statements, complaints, procedural and other legal documents
Protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a suspect, the accused, a defendant, the convicted, the acquitted, a person in respect of whom the application of coercive measures of a medical or educational nature is envisaged or the issue of their application in criminal proceedings is being resolved, a person in respect of whom the issue of extradition to a foreign state is being considered (extradition), as well as a person who is brought to administrative responsibility during the consideration of a case on an administrative offense;
Providing legal assistance to a witness in criminal proceedings;
Representation of the interests of the victim during consideration of the administrative offense case, the rights and obligations of the victim, civil plaintiff, civil defendant in criminal proceedings;
Representation of the interests of individuals and legal entities in courts during civil, economic, administrative and constitutional proceedings, as well as in other state bodies, before individuals and legal entities;
Representation of the interests of individuals and legal entities, the state, state authorities, local self-government bodies in foreign, international judicial bodies, unless otherwise established by the legislation of foreign states, statutory documents of international judicial bodies and other international organizations or international treaties, consent to binding which were provided by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;
Provision of legal assistance during execution and serving of criminal penalties;
Protection of the whistleblower's rights, freedoms and legitimate interests in connection with his reporting information about a corruption or corruption-related offence.

A lawyer can carry out other types of lawyer's activities, which are not prohibited by Law. The Law establishes a list of the Advocate’s duties, in particular: observance of the Advocate’s Oath and Rules of Advocate’s ethics, observance of Advocate’s secrecy, constant improvement of one's professional level, prohibition of acting to the detriment of the client's interests. An Advocate may be prosecuted for violating the duties provided for by Law, including being deprived of the right to practice Law.

4. Specialization of Lawyers in Ukraine

In accordance with clause 3.1.8. According to the procedure for maintaining the Unified Register of Lawyers of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Ukrainian Bar Association), approved by the decision of the Bar Council of Ukraine No. 74 of August 22, 2022, additional information, including the categories of case management (60 categories in total), may be added to the Ukrainian Bar Association at the request of an Advocate.

Therefore, regardless of the lack of specialization of lawyers in the Law, lawyers can choose the categories of their case management and define them in the ERAU, which actually means specialization.

5. Copyright and Intellectual Property Lawyer

A Bar exists to provide professional legal assistance in Ukraine. Since January 1, 2019, only an Advocate represents another person in court, as well as defense against criminal charges.

The monopoly on representation and defense is not the only one in Ukraine for Advocates. In case of violation of copyright and/or related rights by any person, committed using the Internet, the subject of copyright or the subject of related rights (hereinafter - the Applicant) has the right to contact the owner of the website or the registrant of the corresponding domain name, by which the website is accessed, and/or the Recipient of hosting services (in the absence of evidence to the contrary), and/or the Owner of the web page, with a statement to terminate the infringement of copyright and/or related rights.

The Applicant, who is a legal entity, applies for termination of the infringement exclusively through the representation (mediation) of an Advocate or a representative in intellectual property matters (patent attorney).

The Applicant (Applicant's Official) is responsible for providing knowingly inaccurate information regarding whether he has property rights to the Object of Copyright or the Object of Related Rights, the violation of which is referred to in the application.

The Applicant applies to the hosting service provider, which provides services and/or resources for hosting the relevant website, with a corresponding application on the representation (intermediation) of an Advocate or a representative in intellectual property matters (Patent Attorney).

The Subject of Copyright and (or) related rights (hereinafter referred to as the Applicant) exclusively through the representation (intermediation) of an Advocate applies for the termination of the infringement. At the same time, the owner of the website must immediately, no later than 48 hours from the moment of receiving the application to stop the violation (provided that there are no grounds for refusal provided by law), make it impossible to access the electronic (digital) information for which the application was submitted, and provide the applicant with and information about the measures taken to the hosting service provider.

However, the key role of a Copyright and Intellectual Property Advocate is much broader: to prevent a conflict or help in the settlement of a conflict issue at the pre-trial stage due to the acquired experience in representation (knowledge of the nature of the conflict and experience in the ways of resolving various disputes).

Choosing a Lawyer for representation (rather than a Advocater) there is a risk of incurring additional expenses for re-examination of the case and formation of a legal position by the lawyer (if the case could not be resolved out of court).

6. The Importance of Cooperation Between a Lawyer and a Patent Attorney

Today, full comprehensive protection and representation of Intellectual Property Rights subjects is impossible without the participation of an Advocate, and incomplete without the participation of a Patent Attorney.

A Patent Attorney has the officially confirmed status of a specialist who can provide official conclusions based on the results of research into objects of Intellectual Property Rights and carry out patent research with the registration of their results in the form of conclusions and patent forms in the manner prescribed by the state standards of Ukraine.

Therefore, the role of a Patent Attorney in protecting Rights to Intellectual Property objects is an expert position: professional assistance in defining Intellectual Property objects, the scope of legal protection, substantiating the facts of the use of an Intellectual Property object. As for the protection of rights, only the Patent Attorney has the exclusive right to represent foreign and stateless persons in relations with the National Intellectual Property Office (NOIP) or with the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation (UKRNOIVI).

So, it is in the interaction of the work of the Advocate and the Patent Attorney that you will get the predicted result.

7. Advantages of Cooperation with DESTRA

Advocates and Patent Attorneys of the DESTRA Patent and Legal Agency have been providing professional legal assistance for the protection and protection of your rights for more than 20 years. The main specialization is protection in cases related to Intellectual Property Rights (Copyright, Related Rights, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Utility Models, Inventions).

You no longer need:

Seek an Advocate in case of disagreement of the opponent to resolve the issue out of court
It is not necessary to spend additional funds on re-acquainting yourself with the case and forming a legal position several times
There is no need to look for an additional Intellectual Property expert
You will get the predicted result

You will get help with any issue from protection to protection of rights, including:

Consultations (oral and written)
Audit of Intellectual Property objects
Registration of objects of Intellectual Property Rights
Drawing up contracts and related documents
Registration of the transfer of rights to objects of Intellectual Property Rights
Legal support of negotiations
Claims work
Registration of objects of intellectual property rights in the customs register
Protection
Representation

You need professional legal assistance - contact us, we will help you.

Consultations

We provide consultations on matters related to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Ukraine and worldwide, as well as written materials explaining the stages and cost.

Free of charge:

The first 15 minutes of an oral consultation on Intellectual Property;
Standard written materials on stages and costs of protection of Intellectual Property.

In most cases, free consultations and basic written materials are sufficient to decide and start working with us.

Send a request for a free consultation

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