The Russian Patent System

Russian IP Office

The governmental agency in charge of handling intellectual property rights in Russia is the Federal Service of Industrial Property (“Rospatent”) located in Moscow. The main functions of this institution are: establishing procedures for affording legal protection of intellectual property rights in Russia, application examination, management of licensing agreements and assignments, fee collection, and certification of patent attorneys.

Filing Patents In Russia

In order to file a direct national application in Russia, it is necessary to include: power of attorney (notarization required from some countries), specifications, claims, and any necessary drawings. If applicable, any priority documents must be accompanied by a certified translation in English, Russian, German or French.

Russia is a member of the Paris Convention, PCT, Strasbourg Agreement regarding International Patent Classification, as well as Eurasian Patent Convention.

PCT National Stage in Russia

When an application is filed as a PCT National Stage application, the national stage entry deadline is 31 month from the PCT application’s priority date. Filing power of attorney at that stage is required, and the national stage application cannot be assigned. Filing more than 25 claims triggers excess claim surcharges, and translation extensions are available.

Recent IP Legal Trends in Russia

According to Russian patent lawyers, the IP market activity has increased 10-15% between 2009 and 2010. However, this growth has slowed down from the previous years.

Rospatent has recently taken initiatives to prevent patent trolls from exploiting gaps in utility models, a conduct that has detrimentally affected, for example, Japanese car manufacturers in Russia. Such IP related initiatives rely on quality patent enforcement in Russia and on sophistication of Russian IP courts. However, judicial expertise with respect to IP issues still needs some improvement. In order to address these concerns, in November 2010 the Supreme Court announced establishment of a specialized IP Court in Russia.