Press Center: Legal updates

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has drafted amendments to Presidential decree No. 81 of March 1, 2022 (the "Decree"), which would extend the special procedure for transactions established by the Decree to transactions involving intellectual property. The draft is currently at the stage of anti-corruption expertise.

In accordance with the current version of the Decree, certain types of transactions with persons from "unfriendly" countries may be carried out only on the basis of permits issued by the Government Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation (the "Government Commission").

On 15 November 2023 the Russian Supreme Court has published a review of court practice in cases involving the assessment of actions of trademark holders.

The review analyzes cases and circumstances in which the parties conduct is considered to be in bad faith or, on the other hand, in good faith.

On 4 November 2023 the decree of the Ministry of Industry and Trade No. 2701 dated 21 July 2023, which approved a new list of goods for parallel import and recognized the decree of the Ministry of Industry and Trade No. 1532 dated 19 April 2022 and all the amending decrees as null and void, comes into force.

By its Ruling of 25.09.2023 in case No. A40-185112/2022, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeal ordered the pharmaceutical company Vertex, the right holder of a series of patents for the drug Trikafta (INN: Ivacaftor+Tezacaftor+Elexacaftor, Ivacaftor), to grant a simple (non-exclusive) license to the Russian pharmaceutical company MIK under Article 1362(1) of the Russian Civil Code (insufficient use of patents).

The President has signed a law which may have an impact on Internet users and website owners.

The Law amends the Act "On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information" and the Act "On Communications". The law introduces new requirements for the owners of Internet sites and their users.

On 29 June 2023, Federal law of 28 June 2022 No. 193-FZ came into force, amending Part 4 of the Russian Civil Code, including the subjects that can be trademark holders.

The Russian Constitutional Court in its Ruling of 10 January 2023 No. 1-P  stated that art. 1248(2) of the Russian Civil Code along with art. 106 of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code are inconsistent with the Russian Constitution insofar they prevent a party in a court case on appealing the Rospatent decision to reimburse legal costs borne by this party in administrative dispute on annulling registration of intellectual property objects or means of individualization previously resolved by Rospatent.

In October 2022, the European Commission approved the eighth package of sanctions against Russia. Among other restrictions it established a ban on the provision of legal services to Russian companies. A few weeks later, on October 24, the European Commission published answers to frequently asked questions including explanations as to what kind of legal services fall under the ban and whether the extension of sanctions to this sphere does not entail restrictions on the right to protection.