Mikhailyuk, Sorokolat & Partners

Patent and Trademark Attorneys

SCOPE AND OWNERSHIP OF PATENTS

Patent in Russia | Frequently Asked Questions
1.  Types of protectable inventions
2.  Patent ownership




We would like to inform you that we have taken a decision not to file any patent and trademark applications in Russia and Eurasia until the end of the war in Ukraine.

Can a patent be obtained to cover any type of invention, including software, business methods and medical procedures?

According to the Russian Civil Code inventions are considered protectable if they concern technical solutions in any area related to a product (including a device, substance, micro-organism strain or cell culture of plants or animals) or method (a process affecting a material object using material means).

The following shall not be deemed as objects of patent rights:

  • methods of cloning human beings and clons;
  • methods of modifying the genetic integrity of human germ cells;
  • use of human embryos for industrial and commercial purposes;
  • other solutions that are contrary to public interest, principles of humanity and morality.

The following shall not be deemed inventions (if the patent application refers to the above subject matter per se):

  • discoveries;
  • scientific theories and mathematical methods;
  • proposals concerning solely the outward appearance of manufactured articles and intended to satisfy aesthetic requirements;
  • rules and methods of games and for intellectual or business activity;
  • computer programs;
  • ideas on presentation of information.

Legal protection as inventions shall not be granted to:

  • varieties of plants, breeds of animals and biological methods of obtaining such, with the exception of microbiological methods and products obtained by the use of such methods;
  • layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits.




Who owns the patent on an invention made by a company employee, an independent contractor, or multiple inventors? How is patent ownership officially recorded and transferred?

The exclusive right in an employee's work shall belong to the employer unless a labour contract or other contract between the employer and the author has provided otherwise. An independent contractor or a joint venture is not an employee, so a right to inventions should be declared in the contract. If an invention is created in the performance of a contract of work and labour, or a contract for the performance of scientific or technological research that did not directly envisage such a creation, the right to obtain a patent and exclusive right for such an invention shall belong to the contractor (performer) unless the contract provides otherwise. In the case of multiple inventors, all or any of them may own the patent depending on the agreement between the inventors.

The patent's ownership is officially registered at the Russian Patent Office, which grants the registration of the patent after verifying that all requirements have been met. The rights related to the patent may be transferred under an assignment of rights agreement, which shall be registered at the Russian Patent Office, and are not valid until recorded.


For more information about patent registration in Russia or quotation for filing and prosecution of the Russian patent application please contact us.