Corporate raiding is a long-standing problem for businesses, but this time the conflict erupted in an environment where such scenarios are unusual. How did a corporate dispute in the Lviv IT cluster nearly disrupt the country's key IT event, IT Arena?
Collage: Andriy Kalistratenko
Cases of corporate raiding in Ukrainian businesses are unlikely to surprise anyone, but for the IT sector, this is something new. Last week, the domestic tech community observed one of the loudest scandals recent years, writes EP.
A dispute has erupted between the supervisory board of the Lviv IT cluster and its management, where the management appears to be I decided, which has significantly more rights to the results of the community’s long-term work than provided for in the charter.
While the parties were trying to determine who owned the trademarks of the most famous projects, the holding of one of Ukraine's largest IT conferences, IT Arena, which has been gathering thousands of participants from around the world in Lviv since 2014, was threatened.
This is the story of a corporate conflict within a business association, dubbed a "hostile takeover" by the media, and how a group of people tried to break the rules, re-sign trademarks, seize key projects, the team, offices, and intellectual property of the organization, and failed.
EP tells the story of one of the most high-profile conflicts in the Ukrainian IT industry in recent years and how IT Arena was saved in this situation.
IT Arena: The History of Conflict, or Who Owns What
Lviv IT Cluster is a business association, created by Between 2009 and 2011, the cluster was developed by the city's largest IT companies: SoftServe, ELEKS, and N-iX, in collaboration with Lviv city authorities and universities. The cluster's key objectives are to overcome the shortage of qualified personnel, modernize technical education, and promote Lviv as an attractive location for technology business and investment.
Over the years, the cluster has grown into one of the largest associations of technology companies in Ukraine, comprising over 300 members. The cluster implements a number of projects, including annual analytical research on the IT industry (IT Research), a series of specialized one-day events (IT Meetups), and the CodeUA tech marketplace, developed jointly with the Ministry of Digital Development to facilitate IT companies' entry into global markets.
The cluster's most public project remains the three-day IT Arena conference, which annually attracts thousands of participants from Ukraine and abroad.
Since 2013, the position of CEO of the Lviv IT Cluster occupied Stepan Veselovsky, who was responsible for all the association's projects. The cluster was created as a non-profit organization, so the team was not required to make it commercially successful. Despite this, as EP's sources in the association note, questions about the association's excessive commercialization have repeatedly arisen among its member companies.
The first signs of tension emerged in the spring of 2025, when the cluster's supervisory board asked Veselovsky to provide a financial report on the association's work.
"For some time, the supervisory board has been urging the executive team to streamline financial reporting. There were also comments regarding an overly strong focus on commercial projects, while non-commercial ones were given less attention.""," says Svyatoslav Kavetsky, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Lviv IT Cluster, who will temporarily serve as Executive Director.
According to him, one of the steps the supervisory board insisted on was switching from a cash-based financial reporting system to a profit and loss statement (P&L, which shows revenue, expenses, and financial results for a given period). This would allow board members, most of whom are operational managers, to better assess the association's financial health and cash flow and make informed decisions.
Several of EP's sources in the cluster note that one of the reasons for the supervisory board's increased attention to Veselovsky could be the issue of distributing so-called profit bonuses. The fact is that some of the cluster's projects are financially successful. Specifically, IT Arena alone attracted over 6 participants in 2025, and the event's profit, according to According to Forbes, amounted to 200-300 thousand dollars.
According to internal rules, the IT cluster's management was supposed to allocate a portion of this profit to bonuses for the team. However, according to EP sources, the distribution of these funds could have been non-transparent and uneven, with a significant portion remaining at the management level.
While the supervisory board awaited financial statements, in the summer of 2025, the cluster's CEO registered some of the organization's trademarks to his deputy, Yuriy Ogonovsky, and accountant, Natalya Ryzhanovskaya. In total, the association owned 14 trademarks, eight of which changed hands between June and September, including the main brand of the IT Arena conference.
Stepan Veselovsky and Yuriy Ogonovsky // Photo by Lviv IT Cluster
Furthermore, the Lviv IT Cluster trademark was transferred to the newly formed LITK public union, headed by Ogonovsky. The Supervisory Board learned of the trademark re-registration in the fall, after all legal procedures had been completed.
"We learned about this by accident. This fact sparked a discussion and attempts to return all trademarks to the cluster. In the fall, we tried to resolve this issue privately, so as not to harm the organization.",” explains Kavetsky.
EP tried to contact Veselovsky for comments and his perspective on the situation, but he did not respond to messages or calls.
War for the office, people and truth
It was not possible to resolve the situation privately. AIN, January 23, reported The transfer of ownership rights to the Lviv IT Cluster trademark to Veselovsky. This is how the entire tech community learned about the internal conflict within the organization.
A few days later Veselovsky removed from performing his duties. He said, that he is leaving the organization, that the transfer of the trademark was agreed upon with the supervisory board, and the IT Arena brand allegedly belongs to him as a project founded in 2013.
Source: Lviv IT Cluster
The supervisory board has a different position. "IT Arena is a community asset. The cluster developed thanks to the collaborative work of the teams and founding companies, who invested their resources in its projects. Veselovsky played a key role in this as the organization's leader, but he received a salary for his work. It's difficult to talk about individual ownership.",” Kavetsky notes.
As it later turned out, the ousted cluster CEO, in addition to TM, decided to take the team, office, access to social media, and the website with him. At a certain point, the supervisory board lost control over the cluster's entire operational infrastructure.
Its members were unable to communicate with the team, publish statements on the organization's pages, or use traditional communication channels. Supervisory board statements had to be distributed through the personal contacts of journalists they knew.
A separate episode is the situation with the office. "During a meeting at the cluster on January 27, Stepan informed us that this office didn't belong to the cluster. When we arrived, they were removing the Lviv IT Cluster logos from the building's lobby. We weren't given the opportunity to speak with the team.",” notes the acting executive director of the cluster.
Throughout the conflict, Veselovsky did not explain the rationale or motivation behind the change in ownership of the eight trademarks. He noted that they remained with the cluster, and the re-registration process had begun several months earlier, and the supervisory board was aware of it.
“Trademarks began to return to the cluster on November 29, 2025, with the last document dated January 2, 2026,” said Veselovsky on Facebook.
Supervisory board representatives state that they see no changes in the state registers and that the situation remains the same as it was in the fall of 2025. The issue of rights to the IT Arena trademark also remained open until January 29.
EP's interlocutors explain the ousted CEO's motivation as a desire to retain control over the TMs, which are responsible for the most profitable projects, to create a new company, and to continue working there with part of the cluster's team.
The Lviv IT Cluster team // Photo: euneighbourseast.eu
"Stepan changed corporate email access rights so the supervisory board couldn't communicate with the team. He effectively isolated people and only communicated his own version of events. He said everyone needed to switch because the supervisory board would screw them over, and he'd take the projects with him anyway and pay salaries out of his own pocket.",” shares an EP source familiar with the situation within the team.
Sources reported that some of the postscripts from the corporate messenger were deleted, and certain information from work computers was moved to separate hard drives. Furthermore, EP heard allegations of psychological pressure on employees, supposedly intended to deter them from resigning or making public comments.
This is confirmed by accounts from former cluster employees about Veselovsky's leadership style: yelling at subordinates, pressuring them, and sexist remarks. However, not all employees with whom EP spoke confirmed these stories.
IT Arena. The raid failed.
On January 30, the day after the meeting with the supervisory board, Veselovsky radically changed his position. He said, which supports a constructive settlement format and the initiated process of transferring cases, documents, and necessary access to ensure the stable operation of the cluster.
"Stepan and his deputy met with the supervisory board, after which, together with a team of lawyers and financial experts, we began the transfer of affairs. Overall, everything is proceeding in a constructive and pragmatic manner. He promised that all trademarks will be re-registered, although we understand this is not a quick process.",” shares the chairman of the cluster’s supervisory board.
Kavetsky confirmed that Veselovsky cooperates in all areas. "Transferring the knowledge base (processes, contacts, documents, developments, and management decisions of the organization) is a complex process, but we see that he's being constructive in this regard and conveying all the necessary information. We understand that we must carefully consider this data and critically evaluate it.", he adds.
Why did Veselovsky change his position, agree to hand over all TMs, and publicly declare his willingness to cooperate with the Supervisory Board? According to EP sources, he also urged the team to remain within the cluster.
According to one theory, during the public escalation of the conflict, the executives and owners of the largest IT companies participating in the merger began openly expressing support for the supervisory board. In public statements, they assessed Veselovsky's actions as a hijacking of their shared achievements.
EP's source explains Veselovsky's change of heart by the realization that even if he created a separate company and retained the trademark, he would hardly be able to fully manage the projects. The cluster's key initiatives depend on the participation of private IT companies, and they have sided with the supervisory board. Consequently, the chance to secure their support and continue operations in the usual format has disappeared.
According to Kavetsky, at a meeting with cluster members on January 28, some tried to understand the rationale behind the CEO's dismissal, others asked why the reaction had been so slow and soft, but most were interested in how to support the organization.
The stance of the Lviv IT Cluster's participants and key stakeholders helped quickly and relatively painlessly resolve the situation, which until the end of January was heading either toward the organization's collapse or a protracted legal battle.
The conference was saved at the last moment
According to the supervisory board members, a trial regarding the IT Arena brand was inevitable. The lawyers predicted that the key question in the case would be whether Veselovsky had the right to re-register the trademarks on his own.
"If the organization were to go to court, it would have to prove that the director exceeded their authority when making decisions regarding the transfer of assets or rights. Everything would depend on the charter: if it doesn't clearly set out restrictions on such actions or require approval from the supervisory board, then the director may have formally acted within their authority, and the prospects for such a lawsuit become significantly weaker.",” explains Ivan Nikitchenko, CEO of Crane IP Law Firm.
Stepan Veselovsky speaks at IT Arena, 2024 // Photo by Lviv IT Cluster
Time would be a decisive factor: expert assessments, brand valuations, and legal proceedings could drag on for years. "Trademark lawsuits last six months to a year at best. If the parties challenge the assessments, commission new expert opinions, and use procedural options to delay the process, the trial can last two years or even longer.",” Nikitchenko notes.
Otherwise, the cluster would have been unable to use the IT Arena trademark, launch advertising, sell tickets, or prepare the event, which takes place in iconic Lviv locations. According to sources, the conference was saved at the last minute.
"A court case can prohibit the transfer of rights to third parties, but not the use itself. However, until the court makes a decision and the trademark rights are returned to the cluster, the organization will not be able to use it, since the other party is considered the legal owner.",” adds Nikitchenko.
What will happen next
After the acute phase of the conflict has been resolved, the cluster moves on to an internal reset. The first step will be an audit of the organization's activities.
"We will conduct an audit. I don't want to be unfounded, but under these circumstances, we are obliged to do so. If the results reveal any violations or abuses, we will provide a legal assessment. In any case, we will act transparently with respect to cluster members.",” shares the acting executive director of the cluster.
According to the supervisory board, the future of the cluster's management has already been decided. "If after the audit and full review no comments arise, then we can say that this is where our paths diverge.",” Kavetsky notes.
The supervisory board acknowledges that the conflict was a serious blow to its reputation. They attempted to resolve it as quickly as possible to minimize the impact.
"The conflict became high-profile and public, which was certainly undesirable, as it would inevitably damage the organization's reputation. Therefore, our key task was to resolve it quickly and effectively. It was important for us not only to resolve the conflict but also to demonstrate that some things cannot happen in an organization."“—the chairman of the cluster’s supervisory board concludes.
The crisis forced the organization to reconsider its internal processes. "This situation came as a surprise, but we are introducing new management and control mechanisms to ensure such situations do not recur. At the same time, the organization is returning to implementing key projects and development plans for this year.", says Kavetsky.
Skelet.Org
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