Knowledge markets and knowledge and technology transfer

 

Ukraine is associated to all international key agreements on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights). A state agency on IP²²¹ is in force, which collects patent data. This agency SIPS (State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine) is entitled as a copyright and industrial copyright office for patent registrations. The second industrial copyright office is the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute²²². Some universities and state-sponsored academies of sciences also have own offices for the commercialisation of knowledge.

 

Figure 31 shows the number of total patent applications in Ukraine from 2000 to 2014, based on data from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).²²³ The numbers cover only those patent applications, which were made to the Ukrainian patent registration offices. Thus, they do not give any information on those Ukrainian patent applications, which were filed in a foreign patent office. Most patent applications were filed in 2001 (8,818 patent applications were made in total). In 2002 and 2003 Ukraine faced a noticeably decrease in national patent applications. The reasons for this are unclear.

 

 

214 EU, ETF, EBRD, OECD (2012), SME Policy Index Eastern Partner Countries 2012: Progress in the Implementation of the Small Business Act, quoted from UNECE Innovation Performance Review Ukraine (2013).

 

215 This seems to change during 2016.

 

216 UNECE Innovation Performance Review Ukraine (2013).

 

217 UNECE Innovation Performance Review Ukraine (2013).

 

218 O. Krasovska (2012), Does venture capital in Ukraine really support high technology investments?, International Journal of Economics and Law Vol. 2, No. 4, pages 55-59, quoted from UNECE Innovation Performance Review Ukraine (2013).

 

219 Ibid.

 

220 UNECE Innovation Performance Review Ukraine (2013).

 

221 State Intellectucal Property Service of Ukraine: http://sips.gov.ua/en: accessed on 2 May 2016.

 

222 http://www.uipv.org/en/: accessed on 2 May 2016.

 

223 http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/country_profile/profile.jsp?code=UA: accessed on 2 May 2016.

 

From 2004 onwards patent applications evened out somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 applications/year roughly.

 

Figure 31: Total number of patent applications (in thsd.) in Ukraine from 2000 - 2014; source = WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation)

 

The difference between national and international patent applications, shown in the next two figures, must be explained more in detail. In the world of patents the major difference on the scope of application validity and protection varies with the format of intellectual protection. First option is to make a patent application to a national patent filling office. These applications are called “ nationally filed patent applications”. A nationally filed and granted patent is protected only in the country to which theapplication was made. Figure 32 below shows such data on patent applications by Ukrainian inventors to national patent filling offices worldwide. From the figure excluded are Russia and Ukraine itself, as the number of patent applications to their respective offices is proportionally much higher, what, at the other end, would distort the overview below. Therefore, the patent applications to Russia and Ukraine follow separately.

 

By combining Figure 32 (patent applications to national offices worldwide excluding Russia and Ukraine from 2003-2013) and Figure 33 (patent applications to national offices in Russia and Ukraine only from 2003-2013), the following results can be obtained (all data is gained from EPO PATSTAT online database²²⁴): Most nationally filed patent applications from Ukraine-based inventors were made to the patent authorities in their home country, summing up to 12.879 applications in total. With Russia (2.100) comes a country next, whose economic, political and cultural ties historically are very much connected to Ukraine. Also the common use of Russian is probably a push-factor for Ukrainian applicants. Moving more westwards, third most applications were made to the US (223). The list of the top-5 countries is completed by South Korea (136) and Poland (68).

 

 

224 https://data.epo.org/expert-services/index-2-2-6.html: accessed on 3 May 2016.

 

 

Figure 32: Total number of nationally filed patent applications worldwide by Ukraine-based inventors from 2003-2013; source = PATSTAT by EPO (European Patent Office)

 

Figure 33: Total number of nationally filed patent applications in Russia and Ukraine only by Ukraine-based inventors from 2003-2013; source = PATSTAT by EPO

 

Apart from nationally filed patent applications, an inventor can also apply for an international protection for his or her invention. These applications are usually made under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), introduced and executed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).²²⁵ Such applications are called “ PCT filed patent applications”.

 

Currently 148 countries are contractual partners within the PCT. Ukraine is a member since 1991. When applying for a PCT protection, an inventor must decide in how many of the 148 countries he or she seeks protection. The underlying conditions applicable to this process are simple: The higher the number of countries in which the invention shall be protected, the more has to be paid. Figure 34 below shows the number of patent applications under the PCT by Ukraine based inventors from 2003 to 2013. It illustrates in which countries Ukraine based inventors applied for a PCT protection for their invention. Unfortunately, no data are provided on the number of countries the Ukrainian inventors sought for protection when applying for a PCT filed patent.

 

Figure 34: Number of PCT patent applications by UA-based inventors from 2003 to 2013, distributed by countries; source = PATSTAT by EPO

 

As Figure 34 above shows, Ukraine itself is the most popular country for PCT patent applications among Ukraine based inventors. Both for national (under a national patent office) and international protection (under PCT), most patent applications were made to the Ukrainian patent authorities. In Ukraine exactly 805 PCT patent applications were made, followed by the US (180) and Russia (139). PCT protected

 

applications have not only to be submitted to national patent offices: “International offices” such as the

 

International Bureau (IB) of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) or the European Patent Office (EP) also accept PCT applications. The IB received 98 Ukrainian applications, the EP 63.²²⁶

 

In general, Ukraine has only very few patents recognised in the EU or in the USA compared to other, even smaller countries in the region. The major reasons for that are the weak integration of Ukrainian enterprises in global value chains and the relatively high patenting costs abroad. This is also why most PCT filed applications were not made in a foreign country but Ukraine.

 

 

225 http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/: accessed on 2 May 2016.

 

226 Data also from EPO-PATSTAT online database: https://data.epo.org/expert-services/index-2-2-6.html: accessed on 3 May 2016.