Economic aspects of strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights

Abstract

The present stage of development of the world economy is characterized by a spread of innovation, a rapid development of global and national protection systems and, especially, the protection of intellectual property. The dynamism of interstate relations is accompanied by an increase of various violations of intellectual property rights, including counterfeiting, falsification, piracy, and plagiarism. The purpose of the study is to generalize the global trends in the violation of intellectual property rights, identify the main problems in the protection of intellectual property rights in Ukraine within the context of strengthening the fight against violation of copyright and industrial property rights by the world's leading countries. Violations of intellectual property rights, including patent theft, trademark counterfeiting, copyright piracy, and trade secret theft, cause considerable material and financial damage to the rights holders. The problem of counterfeiting is currently spreading on a global scale and occurs in the production, transshipment and in the sale of large quantities of counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods, especially foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals, bear risks to the health and safety of consumers. Online sales have become the newest channel for trading fraudulent and counterfeited goods. The bulk of counterfeited produce originate from a small group of economies, among which China, Hong Kong (province of China), Turkey, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are in the lead. Escalated violations of intellectual property rights lead to a stronger protection of intellectual property rights in the USA and EU countries, and the appearance of special reports based on the results of monitoring and supervision of violations in trading partner countries. In recent years, Ukraine has been included in the US Priority Watch List of countries that do not ensure a proper protection of intellectual property rights and are monitored by the Office of the US Trade Representative. Besides, this country is in the second category of the European Commission’s Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, which includes countries with the most serious problems in intellectual property protection. The status of a candidate country for EU membership requires Ukraine to harmonize its national legislation with the EU legislation in the field of intellectual property protection.