Intellectual Property Infringement Online: Types and How to Protect Your Rights

How Can You Protect Your IP Rights on the Internet?

Step 1. Registration of Rights and Preservation of Evidence
The most effective way to protect rights is the state registration of a trademark, design, and patent to secure exclusive rights. In addition, copyright should be registered with UKRNOIVI to fix the date of creation of the work and the rights to it. Although copyright arises automatically upon creation, registration significantly simplifies proving authorship in court disputes.

Before submitting any claims, it is critically important to record the infringement as evidence. Proper means of evidence collection in Ukraine include: a notarized screenshot (in accordance with Article 75 of the Law “On Notariate”); a notary’s inspection of a website with an inspection report; extracts from WHOIS providers regarding domain registration; as well as file hash values and metadata of digital materials. Non-notarized screenshots may be rejected by the court as insufficient evidence, so evidence preservation should be a top priority.

Step 2. Extrajudicial Protection Mechanisms (Takedown Procedures)
After successful registration and evidence collection, you can contact the infringer with a demand to cease the violation, as well as hosting providers and the administrations of social networks and marketplaces to block websites and ads where your IP is used. Most platforms such as Amazon, Google, OLX, Meta, and YouTube have their own IP protection policies and dedicated complaint forms, so in most cases infringing content is removed without going to court.

A key tool in this area is the DMCA takedown notice (removal notice under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Although the DMCA is a U.S. law, its procedure has de facto become a global standard and is used by platforms worldwide, since most major tech companies (Google, Meta, Amazon, Cloudflare) are registered in the United States. The notice must include: a description of the infringed right and a link to the original IP object; the exact link to the infringing material; a statement of good-faith belief that the right is being infringed; and the signature of the rights holder or their authorized representative. By law, the platform must respond to a takedown notice promptly, usually within 24–72 hours.

To combat cybersquatting, the international practice applies the UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) procedure under the auspices of WIPO. It allows a domain name to be transferred or canceled without going to court if three conditions are met: the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a registered trademark; the registrant has no legitimate rights or interests in the domain; and the domain was registered and is used in bad faith. The average UDRP case review period is 60 days, and the cost is significantly lower than litigation.

Step 3. Technical Means of Content Protection
Additional technical protection measures may include:

• placing the © symbol next to the object and indicating the year of first publication and the name of the author or rights holder;
• adding digital watermarks (steganographic watermarks) that remain invisible but help prove authorship in court;
• using plugins that disable the context menu or prevent text selection on a website;
• applying YouTube Content ID to automatically detect and monetize content in third-party videos;
• using Meta Rights Manager tools to automatically block or remove content on Facebook and Instagram.

Effective IP protection in the digital environment is impossible without systematic preventive monitoring. Recommended tools include:

• Google Alerts to track brand mentions and text fragments;
• reverse image search via Google Images and TinEye to detect unauthorized use of photos;
• domain monitoring services (DomainTools, MarkMonitor) for early detection of cybersquatting;
• specialized Brand Protection platforms that use AI to monitor marketplaces and social media in real time.

A violation detected in time can be eliminated with minimal costs; a violation that remains unnoticed for a long period often requires full-scale litigation.

Liability for IP Infringement on the Internet in Ukraine

Ukrainian legislation provides for three types of liability for infringement of intellectual property rights on the Internet.

Civil Liability
According to Article 55 of the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights,” the rights holder is entitled to demand: recognition of the right; restoration of the situation that existed before the infringement; cessation of actions that infringe the right; compensation for damages (including lost profits); seizure and destruction of counterfeit copies; as well as payment of compensation or recovery of income in the amount of 2 to 200 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons (from UAH 6,656 to UAH 665,600). This provision is particularly important: in the digital environment, the precise calculation of damages is often impossible, therefore the recovery of fixed compensation is a significant protection tool.

Administrative Liability
Article 51-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses provides for liability for the illegal use of intellectual property objects in the form of a fine from 50 to 300 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (from UAH 83,200 to UAH 499,200), with confiscation of illegally manufactured products as well as equipment and materials intended for their production. Administrative proceedings may be effective for rapid response and serve as grounds for a subsequent civil claim.

Criminal Liability
Article 176 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (infringement of copyright and related rights) provides for a fine from 300 to 3,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (from UAH 499,200 to UAH 4,992,000), as well as imprisonment from 3 to 6 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for up to 3 years, or without such deprivation. Article 229 of the Criminal Code (illegal use of a trademark, trade name, or qualified indication of origin of goods) provides for a fine from 1,000 to 15,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (from UAH 1,664,000 to UAH 24,960,000), with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years, or without such deprivation. The amount of the fine is determined taking into account whether significant damage (from UAH 33,280), large damage (from UAH 332,800), or especially large damage (from UAH 1,664,000) has been caused. Criminal proceedings are advisable in cases of large-scale piracy, organized sale of counterfeit goods, or systematic use of another party’s trademark or copyrighted work.

Conclusion

Intellectual property infringements are often committed unintentionally: another Internet user may not realize that a particular form of using a brand or a copyrighted work online is unlawful. At the same time, ignorance of the law does not exempt from liability, and the scale and speed of content distribution in the digital environment make the consequences of infringements increasingly serious.

An effective strategy for protecting IP on the Internet is built on three principles: preventive registration of rights (trademarks, designs, patents) and fixation of evidence of authorship; systematic monitoring of the digital space to detect infringements at an early stage; and prompt response through platform-based mechanisms (takedown, UDRP, Brand Registry) before the infringement reaches a scale that requires judicial protection.

Platform and social media administrations are introducing increasingly effective mechanisms to combat the unlawful use of IP assets, including Amazon Brand Registry, YouTube Content ID, and Meta Rights Manager. These tools, combined with legal registration and qualified legal support, make it possible to protect intellectual property in the vast majority of cases without costly litigation.