Establishment and development of legislative regulation of industrial designs as objects of intellectual property law in Ukraine

The article analyses the coverage of topical issues of formation and development of legal protection of industrial designs. The author analysed the legal regulation of the studied relations and identified the main stages of its development. The purpose of this article is a legal analysis of the provisions of the legislation of Ukraine regarding the formation and development of the legal regulation of industrial designs, the definition of debatable legislative provisions and the expression of proposals for the improvement of the relevant legal regulation. Research methods. There were used a systematic method (when clarifying the place of an industrial design in the system of objects of industrial property rights), a comparative method (when comparing the stages of development of national legislation). The historical method was used to study the formation and development of legislation in the field of industrial property in a chronological sequence, starting from 1991 and ending with the present; formal-legal method - for a comprehensive characterization of the legislation of Ukraine regarding industrial designs. The method of scientific interpretation of law was used to clarify the content of relevant legal norms. Conclusions. It has been proven that the formation of the legislation of Ukraine, which regulates relations regarding the emergence of rights to industrial designs, their implementation and protection, took place in several stages. It was established that the first stage lasted during 1991–2003 (the initiation of domestic legislation on industrial property took place), the second stage lasted during 2003–2014, during which the development of national legislation in this area took place, the third stage began in 2014. and continues until now (harmonization of national legislation in the field of industrial property with EU law is taking place). It has been proven that after Ukraine gained independence, there was practically no legal regulation of industrial designs in Ukraine. It was established that the only normative act that contained at least a few norms regarding industrial designs was the Civil Code of Ukraine of the Ukrainian SSR. It has been proven that the first regulatory act that regulated relations regarding industrial designs was the Temporary Provision on Legal Protection of Industrial Property Objects and Innovative Proposals in Ukraine, which played an important role in the subsequent development of legislation on industrial designs. It is substantiated that the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Rights to Industrial Designs" dated 12/15/1993 was the next important step in the establishment of legal regulation of the studied relations, since this law very thoroughly normalized the relations arising in connection with the acquisition and exercise of rights on industrial samples. It is substantiated that the second stage in the formation and development of the legislation on industrial designs was determined by the adoption of the Civil Code of Ukraine in 2003, in connection with this, many legislative provisions were significantly improved, which subsequently operated for about 20 years. It was established that the main legislative innovations (2003) were as follows: the conditions of patentability were changed, the novelty content of an industrial design was improved, the procedure for conducting an examination of an application was changed, the procedure for the publication of the grant of a patent and patent registration was improved, the procedure for appealing the decision of the patent office on an application for an industrial design was changed, the legal norms regarding the use of an industrial design, the termination of patent validity, and the protection of rights to industrial designs have been improved. It was established that the third stage regarding the development of legislation on industrial designs began in 2014 (signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU) and continues to this day. It has been established that the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU contains a large Section on intellectual property, several articles are devoted to industrial designs (Articles 212 - 218). It is substantiated that these articles laid the foundation for the future reform of the legislation of Ukraine on industrial designs, which took place only in 2020. It has been proven that, as of today, the legislation of Ukraine regarding industrial property in general, and regarding industrial designs in particular, is as close as possible to EU standards in this area, and is able to properly regulate relations.