Supreme Court judges participated in the 6th IP Case Law Conference

The Secretary of the Judicial Chamber for Intellectual Property Case Resolution and Cases Related to Antitrust and Competition Law of the Commercial Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, Ihor Benedysiuk, and Judge of the Supreme Court in the Commercial Cassation Court, Tetiana Malashenkova, participated in the 6th Intellectual Property Case Law Conference (IP Case Law Conference), held on May 21–22, 2026, in Alicante (Kingdom of Spain) .

The conference, organized by the Boards of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), became one of the key international events in the field of intellectual property and brought together judges, representatives of national and international intellectual property offices, practitioners, academics, and experts.

During the event, the Supreme Court judges familiarized themselves with the current case law of the General Court of the European Union in the field of trade marks and industrial designs, as well as with approaches to the interaction between registration procedures and law enforcement in the field of intellectual property.

Within the framework of the conference, a number of thematic presentations were delivered, focusing in particular on the impact of visual elements on the grounds for refusal to register weak trademarks, legislative exceptions for modular systems, mastering the procedure for proving the use of trademarks in the EU, and case law in the era of AI.

Furthermore, Ihor Benedysiuk and Tetiana Malashenkova held a meeting with representatives of the General Court of the European Union — Vice President of the EU General Court Savvas S. Papasavvas, President of the Eighth Chamber of the EU General Court Ion Gâlea, and Judge of the EU General Court William Valasidis. During the meeting, the parties discussed matters of professional cooperation and the exchange of experience in the field of judicial protection of intellectual property rights.

The knowledge and developments gained during the conference and meeting are highly relevant for the development of Ukraine's legislation in the field of intellectual property, particularly in view of upcoming changes regarding trademark registration procedures and the official status of Ukraine as a candidate country for accession to the European Union. 

Photo courtesy of the organisers.