PATENTS
 

Russia Patent Law
The Patent Law that govern the Russia Federation is the No. 3517-1 OF SEPTEMBER 23, 1992 (with the Amendments and Additions of December 27, 2000)

Russia is signatory member of the following agreement:
- Hague Agreement related to the International Registration of Industrial Designs;
- The Patent Treaty Act;
- The WIPO Copyright Law;
- The Berne Convention related to the protection of literary work;
- The Patent Cooperation Treaty;
- The Nice Agreement related to the Classification of Goods and Trademarks;
- The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Patent application filing requirements in Russia:
- Full name and address of the applicant(s);
- Full name and address of inventor(s);
- Invention specification including claims, description, abstract and drawings;
- Certified copy of priority document if convention priority is claimed (can be claimed and filed within sixteen months from the priority application filing date);
- International publication, international search report, international preliminary examination report for entry of PCT application into national phase;
- Copy via e-mail of simply signed Power of Attorney with the indication of the name and position of the signatory, date and place of signing (may be filed within two months from the filing date). Legalization and notarization is not required.

Patent Registration Procedure in Russia
After completion of the filing procedure the application undergoes formal examination. As a result of the formal examination a decision concerning acceptance of the application for further examination is issued by the Patent Office. The request for substantial examination can be filed within 3 years from the application filing date. On condition of payment of the Official Fee, the substantial examination is conducted. If the invention meets the requirements of protectability the grant decision is issued. Upon payment of the official registration fee the patent is issued. The average timeframe of obtaining a patent is about 2-4 years.

Entry of PCT application into national phase should be effected within 31 months from the international filing date or a priority date (if any).

The protection of a patent is as follow: patent for an invention is valid for 20 years, patent for a utility model is valid for 10 years, and patent for a design is valid for 15 years.

Industrial Design application Filing requirements in Russia
- Full name and address of the applicant(s),
- Full name and address of author(s);
- Detailed description of the design including essential features;
- Photos or drawings of the design representing each view of the design;
- Certified copy of priority document if priority is claimed (may be claimed within two months and filed within three months from the filing date);
- Copy via e-mail of simply signed Power of Attorney with the indication of the name and position of the signatory, date and place of signing (may be filed within two months from the filing date). Legalization and notarization is not required.

Industrial Design Registration procedure in Russia:
After completion of the filing procedure the application undergoes the formal and substantive examination. In case the application meets the requirements of the examination the grant decision is issued. On condition of payment of the grant and first annuity fees by the applicant the design is registered, published in the Official Bulletin and a design patent is issued. The average timeframe of design registration is about 12-18 months.

TRADEMARKS

Russia Trademark Law
Legal basis for trademark law is part IV of the Russian Civil Code, which came into effect on January 1st, 2008 as further amended, and substituted all there-existing IP laws.
The Russian Federation is a member of the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration. Marks not deemed to be distinctive in the examination can be registered if distinctiveness has been acquired by use in Russia before the date of filing trademark application.
Trademarks which were protected in the former Soviet Union will be also protected in Russia.

Classification
Nice classification, 11th edition. Multiple-class applications are possible.

Document required
Power of attorney simply signed is sufficient.

Russia Patent Registration Procedure
* The application is filed at Federal Service of Intellectual Property (Rospatent).
* The examination in Russia consists of formal and substantial stages. During the formal expert examination, the presence of the necessary application documents and their compliance with established legal requirements is verified. The substantial examination stage is carried out to establish whether the claimed designation conforms to the registrability requirements.
* A trademark application may be rejected either on absolute or relative grounds, or on both absolute and relative grounds.
* The details of the application are published after registration of the application (after receipt of the application, which is filed in compliance with the existing requirements, by Rospatent).
* The information about State registration of the trademark is published immediately after registration of the trademark in the State register of trademarks.
Natioanl Opposition Period
Russian law contains no provisions governing formal opposition against pending applications. However, Rospatent publishes the details of trademark applications; after publication but prior to making a decision on trademark registration, any person is entitled to file with Rospatent written objections specifying the reasons for rejection of the Registration (according to p. 1 of Article 1493 of the Civil Code); the aforesaid objections are then taken into account during the examination of the application (the objections are to be based on Articles 1477 and 1483 of the Civil Code). The opposition procedure is not a substitute for, but supplements, the examination of the trademark application, which is conducted by Rospatent.
Timeframe
The processing time from first filing to registration or first office action is approx. 8 to 10 months.
Duration
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from date of filing the application (or in case of filing a divisional application - for 10 years from date of filing first application). The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
Russia Patent Opposition procedure
* The invalidation actions against registered trademarks based on the following grounds may be filed at the Chamber of Patent Disputes of Rospatent within 5 years from the date of publication of information about state registration of trademark:
if registered trademark is identical or confusingly simliar to the trademark owned by third party with the earlier priority date (both registered or applied for registration) in relation to similar goods or services;
if registered trademark is identical or confusingly simliar to third party’s well-known mark with the earlier priority date in relation to similar goods or services;
if registered trademark is identical or confusingly simliar with third parties’ appellation of origin protected in Russia or applied for registration before the priority date of the registered trademark;
if registered trademark includes the element(s) which are protected as the means of individualisation according to the Civil Code (or the elements confusingly similar to them) for similar goods and services;
if registered trademark is identical to a title of work of science, literature, or art, to a character or quotation from such a work, a work of art or a fragment thereof known in Russia on filing date of the application for official registration of a trademark, without the consent of the rights holder, if the rights to the respective work arose earlier than the priority date of this registered trademark;
if registered trademark is identical to a name, a pseudonym or their derivatives, to a portrait or facsimile of a person known in Russia on the filing date of the application without the consent of this person or his heir.
* The invalidation actions based on all other grounds stipulated by the Russian legislation are not restricted by any deadline. This means, that in case, e.g. violation of company name or misleading nature of the trademark is claimed, a trademark can be revoked within the whole time it is in force.
* Oppositions against registered trademarks based on relative grounds (them being similar or identical to other persons' trademarks having an earlier priority) may be filed at the Chamber of Patent Disputes of the Russian Patent and Trademark Office within 5 years from the publication date of the registered trademark. Oppositions based on all other grounds stipulated by the Russian legislation are not restricted by any deadline. This means, that in case, e.g. violation of company name or misleading nature of the trademark is claimed, a trademark can be revoked within the whole time it is in force.