The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a new policy on intellectual property (IP) management in the defence-industrial complex, aimed at regulating ownership and use of defence-related technologies developed or procured with public funding.
The policy introduces a unified framework for managing IP rights in the defence sector, covering both state institutions and companies working on defence technologies. It defines clearer rules for how intellectual property is protected, transferred, and used in production for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Key elements of the policy include:
protection of IP rights for technologies developed in the public sector or financed by the state, ensuring clearer ownership and legal safeguards;
defined rules for state customers and defence enterprises on how to manage intellectual property during development and procurement processes;
mechanisms to scale existing technologies more efficiently from development into serial production for defence needs.
Private defence companies are allowed to adapt the framework to their own internal processes, meaning they can integrate these IP rules into their development, licensing, and production models depending on their operational structure. This gives companies flexibility in how they manage ownership and use of technologies while aligning with state requirements.
The policy aims to standardise IP management across the defence sector, reduce legal uncertainty, and speed up the transition of new technologies into mass production for military use.