Ukraine joins WIPO ALERT to counter pirate websites

MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Ukraine has become the 15th country that will upload relevant information to WIPO ALERT, the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) online platform designed to counter websites violating intellectual property rights, the Ukrainian Economy Ministry said in a statement on its website.

"Ukraine has been among the first countries comprehensively implementing the corresponding mechanism based on the secure online platform to which authorized bodies of WIPO member states can upload information on websites and apps violating copyrights from the standpoint of national regulations," Ukrainian media quoted Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko as saying.

The Economy Ministry issued an order on endorsing the procedure for compiling and keeping a national list of websites suspected of breaching intellectual property rights on March 21, 2024.

Proprietors of copyrights and/or related rights can submit applications to the IP office on monitoring suspicious websites, the ministry said.

"The Economy Ministry attaches priority to ensuring transparency of business operations in areas economically related to the distribution of content on various online platforms and to reducing instances of unfair or nontransparent competition," Deputy Economy Minister Vitaly Kindrativ said.

The WIPO ALERT database is a WIPO-administered secure online platform to which authorized bodies in the organization's member states can upload details of websites or apps which have been determined to infringe copyright according to national rules.