On February 1, 2011 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading the bill No. 6523 on amendments of some legislative acts of Ukraine on regulations of copyright and related rights, in particular in the field of collective management of property rights.

The bill provides a number of innovations, including:
• extension of protection term of rights of performers and phonogram producers;
• responsibility for non-payment of license fee – royalties – for use of works and phonograms, particularly in the field of broadcasting, cable retransmission, trade and catering, hotel and restaurant business;
• introduction of the "principle of representativeness" (the presence in management the relative majority of rights) as a criterion for determining the authorized organization that will collect and distribute royalties;
• introduction of a more equitable distribution scheme of remuneration among authors, performers, producers of phonograms;
• growth of criminal and administrative responsibility for violators of copyright and (or) related rights;
• implementing an effective campaign against Internet piracy.

The bill No. 6523 received support of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Moreover several provisions of the bill were proposed by the most influential international organization in this sphere – the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).

Ukrainian writers, performers and producers are acting in favor of the bill No. 6523 which will bring Ukraine closer to the international standards in the field of intellectual property protection. Improvement of the legislation and qualitative changes in the field of copyright and related rights are to stimulate development of the Ukrainian music industry where authors and artists will be able protect their works from illegal use and create high-quality musical product.

On February 3, 2011 the Decree ¹ 1824 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of December 15, 2010 "On Approval of Regulations on extension of patents for inventions, utility models and industrial designs" came into force.

The decree stipulates approval of the procedure of extending the validity term of invention patents, utility models, industrial designs, which is designed in accordance with the existing enforcement practices related to the extension of the validity of the above-indicated patents and is aimed at improving thereof.

The decree also set requirements that are applied for the request for renewal of patent for invention, utility model or design, a list of data the above-indicated requests for renewal should contain, the order of proceedings when they are considered in the Patent Office and issuance of decision by the Patent Office on the results of the consideration.

In accordance with Item 2 of the decree the State Committee on Science and Technology is authorized to develop and approve the request forms for the extension of the patent, utility model and design.

On December 30, 2010, the drafts of two IP laws have been introduced to the Kazakh parliament for consideration:

• The first one is the Law on Ratification of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT).

The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) is a patent law multilateral treaty concluded by 53 States and the European Patent Organisation (an intergovernmental organization) on June 1, 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its aim is to harmonize formal procedures, such as the requirements to obtain a filing date for a patent application, the form and content of a patent application, as well as representation.

• The second one is the Law on Introducing Amendments to Intellectual Property Legislation of the Republic of Kazahstan.

The amendments to IP legislation are aimed at eliminating inner contradictions, legislative recognition of the status of patent attorneys, as well as the reduction of terms for examination of application for subjects of industrial property.

On December 30, 2010, the drafts of two IP laws have been introduced to the Kazakh parliament for consideration:

• The first one is the Law on Ratification of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT).

The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) is a patent law multilateral treaty concluded by 53 States and the European Patent Organisation (an intergovernmental organization) on June 1, 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its aim is to harmonize formal procedures, such as the requirements to obtain a filing date for a patent application, the form and content of a patent application, as well as representation.

• The second one is the Law on Introducing Amendments to Intellectual Property Legislation of the Republic of Kazahstan.

The amendments to IP legislation are aimed at eliminating inner contradictions, legislative recognition of the status of patent attorneys, as well as the reduction of terms for examination of application for subjects of industrial property.

Within the scope of execution of the project “Complex of software tools for preparing the materials for examination and registration of trademarks” there has been developed the software ARM Registrar, a part of the set of software tools to automate the preparation of electronic materials sent for examination and registration of trademarks in the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property.

The software is designed to enhance the effectiveness in submission of the application information with the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property for subsequent examination and registration of trademarks on the basis thereof. It is also designed to automate the process of receiving by the applicant or his representative correspondence relating to the registration procedure (requests, notifications, decisions and other documents) issued by the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property.

The software offers the following facilities:

- reviewing the applications and the list of documents relating to them, monitoring their state of prosecution;

- developing new application materials for trademark registration, new and additional materials to existing applications and new registrations;

- accessing electronic forms of documents used in the trademark registration process, including the preservation of their local copies;

- accessing form templates of documents used in the trademark registration process;

- accessing the International Standard Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS).

- accessing incoming documents, directed from the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property; etc.

For using the new service it is necessary:

- to obtain an electronic digital signature key by means of conclusion of the corresponding agreement with the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property.;

- to buy the license for CryptoPro CSP 3.0;

- to install both the electronic digital signature key and the software on the computer.

Meanwhile, in January 2011 the Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property is to put into operation the trial automated system of paperless persecution of patent applications, i.e. software for electronic filing of invention applications.

Our company, Mikhailyuk, Sorokolat and Partners, is already succesfully ustilizing the new software for electronic filing of trademark applications that simplifies the whole procedure and makes it much faster. Moreover, using the system helps cutting down expenses connected with the paper consumption, mail or courier services and offers in a way more reliable method for filing applications.