Securing a trademark certificate in Ukraine is not the end of the brand-protection journey – in many cases, it is where the hard questions begin. Many rights holders discover, only when they need to enforce their mark, that its scope of protection is narrower than expected. The reason is almost always the same: the registration contains weak or non-registrable elements that the certificate does not protect, even though those elements form part of the registered mark.

In Ukraine, a trademark registration does not confer permanent rights if the mark is not genuinely used in commerce. The legal mechanism for removing dormant registrations – cancellation proceedings based on non-use – is increasingly active in Ukrainian courts. For both domestic and foreign rights holders, understanding how Ukrainian courts assess genuine use is now a commercial priority, not merely a legal technicality.

Imagine typing your company's name into a browser and landing on a dating site, an online casino, or a page advertising a competitor's products. Or picture preparing to enter the Ukrainian market, only to discover that every logical domain name for your brand is already registered by an unknown party with no connection to your business. These are not hypothetical scenarios. They are the daily reality of Ukraine's digital environment, where cybersquatting – the abusive registration of domain names that correspond to third-party trademarks – is a persistent and growing problem.

Evidence is the foundation of any court proceeding. A well-constructed legal argument without evidentiary support will not carry a case – in Ukraine any more than elsewhere. Yet the process of gathering and presenting evidence in Ukrainian commercial litigation has a peculiarity that regularly catches both domestic claimants and foreign parties off guard: the procedural status of expert reports commissioned directly by a party to the dispute.

Foreign companies and brand owners entering the Ukrainian market sometimes seek to incorporate national identity into their trademark – by including the word "Ukraine", the international country code "UA", or a visual element resembling the Small State Emblem of Ukraine (the trident). What many do not realise is that these elements are legally restricted designations: their inclusion in a trademark requires a separate authorisation from a dedicated government commission. This article explains the legal framework, who qualifies for authorisation, the substantive criteria, and the procedural sequence applicants must follow.

Until 2023, Ukrainian legal scholars debated at length who could claim authorship of content generated by artificial intelligence. The new Law of Ukraine "On Copyright and Related Rights" – in force since 1 January 2023 – settled this question legislatively. Yet in practice, misconceptions persist. This article answers the most common questions about copyright in AI-generated content under current Ukrainian law.