The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Protection on The European Union's Foreign Trade Relations

Today, due to a rapid technological elaboration and a steady increase in global trade volumes, the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) is growing both within the economies of countries and the activities of companies. The European Union (EU), as a globally recognized trendsetter in the sphere of international law, puts an emphasis on the standardization of the criteria for the protection of IP rights and their adaptation to new market conditions. The purpose of the study was to identify and assess the impact of IPRs protection on foreign trade relations, economy and IP market of the EU. The study revealed that, on average, the protection of IP rights among EU countries is at a relatively high level, which contributes to the active development of innovation in several countries. In particular, IP plays a key role in contributing to the EU's strong economic performance and the job’s creation in the union. Furthermore, the activity of the EU in the context of IPR protection on diverse regulation levels was analyzed. The activity of the EU is aimed both towards the creation of the transparent, effective system of IPR protection on the multilateral level and towards the reduction of the damage caused to the union’s companies by the counterfeit market and the inefficient system for receiving and approving applications for IP registrations on the regional level. What is more, the research was also focused on the analysis of Brexit’s impact on the protection of IP rights and trade between the EU and Great Britain (UK). Generally, Brexit had little impact on the IPR protection in the UK. At the same time, the UK lost several key free trade agreements, the revision and signing of which may not only take much time but also lead to arrangements based on less favourable terms than those during the period under the EU membership.