Ukrainian Software Patent Ice Age

By Artem Taranowski

There is still no official position of the Ukrainian Patent Office on patent protection of software.

At their rare appearance at public events the Ukrainian Patent Office’s officials just confine themselves to vague generalities being distilled down to the statement that software is not subject to patent protection. That’s it.

No official position, no problem.

But the problem does exist. No doubt software is subject to intellectual property protection. What’s available, though, is far from being perfect.

Copyright protects expression. It’s good for literature, music, pictorial and sculptural works. But those are all about expression. A computer program is not. That is not its essence. How perfect is protection that doesn't secure the essence? Not at all.

One way or another, having no official position, that is just talking to oneself. Worthless.

The Patent Office's official position, whatever unfavorable, is a way to delineate a problem in order to have something to address. The way to reveal difficulties, raise questions, get answers, challenge inconsistencies, find out solutions.

There will definitely be uncertainties, inconsistencies, confrontations, compromises, tradeoffs. It will definitely take years. But we haven't even started.