Protection of Intellectual Property in the EU as a Driver of Regional Economic Development

This work is devoted to the study of the impact of legislation in the field of intellectual property rights in the EU on the economic development of the EU. In the strategy "Europe 2020" one of the main objectives of the EU is to build a "knowledge economy", on this basis, the author is trying to answer the question−whether the development of legislation in the field of IP rights entails innovative growth and dissemination of knowledge, which are the basic elements of the knowledge economy. The author distinguishes 3 types of intellectual property rights: patent law, trademark law and copyright. The author highlights the specifics of each type of IP law, supporting his statements with an analysis of EU Directives, the consequences of their adoption and judicial practice. In the third part of his work, the author analyzes the economic importance of each type of IP rights, concluding that intellectual property is a significant asset for the EU, which confirms the fact of continuous development and improvement of legislation in this area. In addition, it is relevant to study the EU Directive adopted only in April 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The author analyzes the two most controversial provisions of the Directive, which caused heated discussions in European society. Also, the author makes an attempt to predict the possible consequences of the adoption of the above-mentioned Directive, pointing to both positive and negative aspects.