The Russian Government Has Approved New Rules on The Payment of Remuneration for Employee Inventions

From 1 September 2026, new rules for calculating remuneration for employees who are the authors of employee inventions, utility models and industrial designs will come into force. The document fundamentally changes the approach to such payments.

Resolution of the Russian Government No. 654 "On the Approval of the Rules for the Payment of Remuneration for Employee Inventions, Employee Utility Models and Employee Industrial Designs’" of 30 May 2026 (Resolution No. 654) comes into force on 1 September 2026 and remains valid until 1 September 2032. At the same time, Resolution of the Russian Government No. 1848 of 16 November 2020 (Resoluton No. 1848), which was due to remain in force until 1 January 2027, as well as the resolutions amending it (No. 812 of 25 May 2023 and No. 921 of 2 June 2023), will cease to be effective.

Method for Calculating Remuneration

Resolution No. 1848 established fixed percentages of the employee’s average salary:

• For the creation of an invention: 30%
• For the creation of a utility model or industrial design: 20%.

Resolution No. 654, in turn, completely changes this approach. Instead of a percentage of the salary, remuneration is calculated using a formula based on the minimum wage (MW) in the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, applying three coefficients:

• Ktl — technological leadership coefficient (criticality of the technology for the country) (1.5 – if the technology is included in the list of key critical technologies[1] , 1 – if not included; determined by the employer on the basis of a document specifying the specific position in the list of technologies)
• Kugt — technology readiness level coefficient (from 0.3 to 3);
• Krid — coefficient of the type of intellectual property result (1.0 — for an invention, 0.7 — for a utility model or industrial design)

Annual Remuneration

Unlike Resolution No. 1848, Resolution No. 654 introduces an annual remuneration for the entire term of the patent. Its amount is also calculated using a special formula incorporating two additional coefficients:

• Kakt — relevance coefficient (decreases as the patent term increases, from 1 to 0.25);
• Ki — usage volume coefficient (ranging from 0.1 — in the absence of use — to 5 — in the case of mass production).

The obligation to make annual payments remains in force even in the absence of commercial use of the invention (minimum coefficient – 0.1).

Changes to Payment Deadlines

The previous deadline for a one-off payment (no later than 2 months) has been extended to 3 months. Payments under licence agreements and upon the transfer of exclusive rights must also be made no later than 2 months. The deadline for payments in the event of failure to obtain a patent through the employer’s fault has been extended to 24 months.

Early Termination of Exclusive Rights

A new rule is introduced: in the event of early termination of exclusive rights, remuneration for an incomplete year is paid in proportion to the number of days the right was in force.

New Rights for Authors

For the first time, the author’s right to waive remuneration in writing has been enshrined in law. In such cases, the remuneration due to that author is paid in proportion to their creative contribution to the co-authors who have not waived their remuneration. If a declaration of waiver of remuneration contains an indication of a waiver of remuneration in favour of the employer, the remuneration of the waiving author is not subject to distribution among the other authors.

Co-authors may now also notify the employer of the distribution of creative contributions via the rights management infrastructure for creative works.

Certain provisions, for example those concerning contractual priority, payments following termination of employment, and payments upon transfer of rights, remain unchanged.  

Resolution No. 654 applies to inventions, utility models and industrial designs filed for registration after 1 September 2026, and applies in the absence of an agreement between the authors and the employer regarding the payment of remuneration for a service invention.

For clarity, the key differences are summarised in the table below: