Russia's new IP court

• Author: Lyudmila Novoselova
• Position: President of the Intellectual Property Court, Russian Federation
• Pages: 26-27

p. 26 2014 | 1

RUS SI A’S N E W

IP COURT By Mrs. Lyudmila Novo selova,

President of t he Intellectual P roperty Court ,

Russian Federation

The idea of establishi ng a specialized intellectu al property (IP) co urt in the Russian

Federation has been active ly debated since the late 1980s. A strong commitment to

fostering a more favorable environme nt for innovation, business and foreign investment

and to improving the country’s IP protection system, culminated in th e establishment

of such a court in Dece mber 2011 when Federal Constituti onal Law No. 4-FKZ was

adopted. Russia’s new Intellectual Property Court (the IP Court) opened its doors

for operation on July 3, 2013 – a signicant milestone in the his tory of IP protection

in the Russian Federation.

The new IP Court will e nable more efcient handling of the growing nu mber of lawsuits

related to IP. These cases are typically more compl ex than standard commercial dis-

putes and their resolution g enerally requires not only legal but a lso specialist technical

knowledge to ensure timely, accurate and consis tent outcomes. A specialized IP

court dedicated to handl ing such cases will als o help minimize judicial e rrors, lower

litigation costs and boost business condence.

An initiative of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation, the new

IP Court was establi shed under Federal Co nstitutional Law No. 4-FKZ ad opted on

December 6, 2011 which amended Federal Constitutional Law No. 1-FKZ of December

31, 1996 on the Judic ial System of the Russian Federation and Federal Constitutional

Law No. 1-FKZ of April 28, 1995 on Commercial Courts of the R ussian Federation.

The IP Court will act a s both a court of rst instance and as a court of ca ssation with

respect to IP-related matters.

A COURT OF FIRST IN STANCE

In its role as a court of rst ins tance, the IP Court is man dated to adjudicate cases

arising from:

• Legislative acts of federal executive author ities (such as the Federal Service

for Intellectual Propert y (Rospatent)) that affect an applica nt’s legitimate

IP rights and interests in relation to patents, plant va riety rights, the layout

designs of integrated circuits, trade se crets and trademarks;

• The grant or invalidati on of IP rights (with the exception of copyright a nd

related rights and layout design of integ rated circuits), including cases that

contest non-regulatory legal acts, decisions and action or inaction of federal

executive authorities (for example R ospatent and its officia ls, as the federal

authority responsible for IP);

• Decisions of the federal antimonopoly authority (the Federal Antimonopoly

Service) in relation to unfai r competition and the improper use of trademarks

and other identifiers re lated to goods, services, a nd enterprises;

Photos: Intellectual Property Court of the Russian Federation