On January 17th, the European Union agreed on the final terms for Ukraines accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)! So finally after 14 years of moving to this point, after countless Ministers of Foreign Affairs told us ascension to WTO was just around the corner, it looks like it may finally be here for Ukraine. Final agreement on Ukraine’s ascension is expected to come as early as next week, on the 5th or 6th of February.
While the big hold out for the European Union centered around export duties on metals, seed, live animals, and other agricultural goods, the bigger issues for firms outsourcing to Ukraine has always been worries over intellectual property.
So on the eve of Ukraine’s ascension to WTO, the big question for outsourcing firms is, that while Ukraine aligned its IP laws a while back to comply with the WTO’s TRIPS (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), will it finally become a marketing point, as it is for outsourcing firms working in China for example?
The answer is, as usual, it depends. The fact is that legal protection has only ever been one part of IP protection when it comes to outsourcing. A buyer looking to work with an outsourcing provider in Ukraine needs to take a look at the processes the provider has in place to protect it’s IP. This includes everything from internal training on IP and what it is and how to guard it, to network security to legal documents. No one thing is going to protect your IP no matter where you have your software developed, and this includes within your own organization.