The bona fide design’s exploitation is the responsibility of the rightowner. Otherwise the design's registration can be litigated by any person.
One of the forms of the design’s exploitation is the conclusion of contracts on transfer of rights, or the licensing contracts.
Under the contract on transfer of rights the rightowner transfers all the exclusive rights on the design’s exploitation, to other interested person, against the remuneration. Herewith the ownership of rights is transferred from the rightowner to the contractual assignee. This type of contract is analogous to the contract of sales.
Licensing contract is the contract under which the rightowner (lisensor) grants to the interested party (lisensee) the right on the design’s exploitation under the certain conditions and against the certain remuneration. Notwithstanding the extent of the rights granted, the lisensor remains to the the owner of the registration certificate. The licencing contract can be compared with the lease contract.
The contracts specified above, shall be concluded upon the parties’ consent. But they shall also contain the certain provisions that are mandatory under the current legislation.
The contract on transfer of rights and the licencing contract come into force from the moment of their signature by the parties. No notarial certification or the state registration is required. However, under the Law of Ukraine “On protection of Rights to Industrial Designs” it is possibile to register such a contract in the state authority, if the parties wish so.
Registration of contracts is carried out by the State Department of Intellectual Property. Either party or its/their authorized representative has right to submit the contract for the registration. An additional copy of the contract shall thus be submitted to remain in files at the State Department.
The procedure of the contract’s registration takes up to 2 months. It results in inclusion in the state registry of contracts of the information on the respective registered contract, as well as in the publication of such information in the official bulletin “Industrial Property”.