As someone who was taught how to make ammunition for six years, I remember that the mortar mine was first used in 1904 during the siege of Port Arthur.
Since the beginning of the First World War, its design has not changed fundamentally. It is in this form that dozens of countries around the world have been producing mines of various calibers for almost 110 years.
It is clear that at the beginning of the last century, the logic of weapons development and the efforts of military engineers from different countries almost simultaneously led to similar ideas. Therefore, in the absence of the Internet and other channels for rapid exchange of information during that historical period, it is impossible to 100% identify the inventor of this ammunition.
But until now, not a single source has mentioned among the inventors of mortar mines figures from Krasilov, Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine.
And imagine my surprise when I learned that it was Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant LLC, which is part of the structure of Ukroboronprom, that “is the owner” of patent No. 153506 for the utility model “Mine for Mortar”!
And that this patent was registered on July 12, 2023 (!) in the corresponding state register of Ukraine (https://sis.nipo.gov.ua/uk/search/detail/1747749/), and information about this was published on the same day in the Bulletin No. 28.
This could have remained some kind of joke and an example of the helplessness of the “specialists” who registered such a “utility model” and filed the corresponding patent, but it turned out that not everything is so simple.
After the urgent registration of the “utility model” and receipt of the corresponding patent, a selfless group of inventors began, signed by the director of Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant LLC Protsyuk, to send letters to Ukrainian enterprises warning that “the further production of military products by your enterprise in accordance with the utility model according to the patent No. 153506 (regardless of caliber) is possible only if concluded with Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant LLC the corresponding license agreement"!
And in addition: “for the continuation of the production of mines for mortars (read - for the Armed Forces of Ukraine), that is, violation of copyright and related rights, civil, administrative and criminal liability is provided in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine.”
When the first emotional impressions of yet another fraudulent enrichment scheme in the war subsided, I remembered not only the history of the mortar and its ammunition, but also the history of the National Intellectual Property Authority, which over the years of independence changed its status and name many times, but never got rid of the spirit schematosis of the traitor of Ukraine Dmitry Tabachnyk, who at one time made him an instrument of “intellectual raiding” and “intellectual racketeering”. It looks like it still works for this purpose.
What is happening now with the participation of “Krasilov’s inventors” and “specialists” of the State system of legal protection of intellectual property grossly violates the norms of Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Rights to Inventions and Utility Models” and undermines confidence in Ukraine, which since December 25, 1991 year is a member of the Union for the Protection of Industrial Property, formed in accordance with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883.
This alone is enough to set aside European prospects for years and cast serious doubt on the attraction of foreign investors for the post-war reconstruction of our country.
But the main thing is that this organized criminal activity, which occurs against the backdrop of Russian armed aggression, has all the signs of acts that impede the production of ammunition for the Ukrainian army and thus undermine the defense capability of our state under martial law.
If these “inventors” are not stopped, then tomorrow they will obtain a patent for socks in the same fraudulent way and ban everyone from producing them.
That is why I ask the Security Service of Ukraine to consider this publication a statement of a crime.
At the same time, I advise the new head of Ukroboronprom, German Smetanin, to deal with the personnel legacy inherited from his predecessors as quickly as possible.
And finally, to the specialists of the National Commission for Ukrainian Language Standards: the term “rights owners” used in the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Rights to Inventions and Utility Models” and many others, as for me, smells of such surzhik that it’s even difficult to pronounce it .
