Intellectual property of Russia in the context of economic sanctions

Association "StekloSouz" of Russia is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (CCI RF).

On April 27, at the Congress Center of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, with the participation of specialists from StekloSouz, a round table will be held on the topic: "Intellectual Property of Russia in the Conditions of Economic Sanctions."

In connection with the imposition of sanctions against Russia, economic ties developed over the years were under attack, which could not but affect the state of protection of intellectual property rights. National and regional patent offices, intergovernmental organizations suspend cooperation with Rospatent and the Eurasian Patent Organization, many foreign holders of intellectual property rights terminate previously concluded agreements for granting rights to use intellectual property rights with Russian companies, which can create many problems for domestic business. The Government of the Russian Federation introduced restrictions on the rights of foreign right holders from countries that supported sanctions against Russia, in particular, non-payment of compensation for the use of inventions, utility models or industrial designs to patent holders associated with foreign states that commit unfriendly actions against Russian legal entities and/or individuals.

At the same time, it seems appropriate to develop a number of additional measures that take into account the balance of interests of holders of exclusive rights, producers of goods and services, businesses, consumers, the interests of the state and society as a whole. In this regard, it is planned to discuss:

1) the sufficiency and effectiveness of measures taken by the Government to support businesses and consumers in the context of economic sanctions (in particular, those provided for by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 299 dated March 6, 2022);

2) Prospects for the transition of Russia from the "national regime" of the exhaustion of IP rights to the "international regime"

3) The introduction of "patent holidays" - temporary exemption of Russian right holders from paying fees for maintaining the rights to intellectual property items in force;

4) Reforming the institution of a “compulsory license” (Article 1362 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), in particular, reducing to 6 months the period for non-use of an invention, utility model or industrial design provided for by law for right holders from countries included in the list of states unfriendly to the Russian Federation;

5) Simplification of the procedure for registration of licensing agreements on trademarks (introduction of a private registration procedure without checking the essential terms of the agreement in order to reduce the time);

6) Simplification of the procedure for registering the alienation of the right to a trademark. (in particular, without verification by Rospatent of compliance with the requirement of paragraph 2 of Article 1488 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation - misleading consumers in relation to a product or manufacturer);

7) Limitation of exclusive rights to software in relation to copyright holders from countries that have supported economic sanctions against Russia, in case of restricting access to software products for Russian consumers;

8) Development of international cooperation with countries that did not support sanctions against Russia, within the framework of concluding bilateral and multilateral agreements in the field of IP protection.