Judicial protection of intellectual property
One of our Agency’s main activities is provision of judicial protection services. Our attorneys have extensive practical experience in our clients’ rights protection in the course of commercial litigation in courts of general jurisdiction, legal support of criminal proceedings, as well as representation of interests in administrative disputes, including in the Chamber for Patent Disputes and Antimonopoly Service.
Our experience shows that every single case related to the conflict of intellectual property rights is peculiar and always has several possible solutions. At the first stage it is important to properly analyze general situation and choose potentially effective ways to conduct a case. It is well-known that disputes over rights to inventions, industrial designs, utility models, trademarks, firm names and copyrights can be settled in administrative, civil and criminal proceedings. One of the main recipes for success is a proper preliminary evaluation of all “pluses and minuses” of one or another solution.
Judicial proceedings.
- Consideration of disputes over infringement of rights to intellectual property objects can be carried out in arbitration proceedings, court of general jurisdiction and arbitration tribunals.
- Arbitration courts have jurisdiction in the disputes particularly relating to entrepreneurial activity. Consequently legal entities or officially registered entrepreneurs running their business without incorporation of a legal entity can be parties in the arbitration process.
- Courts of general jurisdiction are competent to adjudicate disputes involving individuals as one of the parties.
- Arbitration Tribunal, as well as arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction commence proceedings based on prior filing of a complaint by the claimant, although this procedure applies only if the parties have agreed submission of a dispute to such Arbitration Tribunal.
- Authorship misappropriation and unlawful use of intellectual property objects if these acts caused substantial damage or were committed repeatedly either by a group of persons by previous concert or by an organized criminal group entail criminal responsibility according to Articles 146, 147, 180 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code.
- Apart from judicial procedure for consideration of disputes, there is a group of cases that shall be tried by administrative authorities.
Administrative proceedings
Chamber for Patent Disputes hears and decides the following objections and applications:
- Objection to a decision on refusal to grant a patent or on granting a patent for invention, utility model or industrial design.
- Objection to a decision declaring an application for invention, utility model or industrial design withdrawn.
- Objection to granting a patent for invention, utility model or industrial design.
- Objection to the effect within the territory of Russian Federation of the prior USSR Certificate of Authorship or patent for an invention, USSR Certificate or patent for industrial design, Eurasian patent for an invention issued in accordance with the Eurasian Patent Convention as of September 09, 1994.
- Objection to a decision made by results of formal examination for trademark application and application for registration and granting a right to use appellation of origin or denial of admitting it to examination.
- Objection to a decision of applied name examination on trademark application, application for registration and granting a right to use appellation of origin or granting a right to use registered appellation of origin, as well as to a decision to grant or refuse to grant protection provided in accordance with the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks.
- Objection to a decision declaring trademark application, application for registration and granting a right to use appellation of goods origin (AGO) or granting a right to use registered appellation of origin withdrawn.
- Objection to providing legal protection to a trademark, appellation of goods origin, issuance of a certificate for appellation of origin use, to the effect within the territory of Russian Federation of a trademark and service mark registration carried out in the USSR, as well as to providing protection to international registration of mark in the territory of the Russian Federation.
- Objection to providing legal protection to a trademark in the name of an agent or representative of a person who is the owner of an exclusive right to this trademark in one of the member states of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
- Application to recognize a trademark as well-known mark in the Russian Federation.
- Application for early termination of trademark legal protection in case if registered trademark has become wide spread/customary designation of particular goods.
- Application for early termination of trademark legal protection, as well as early termination of international registration of mark legal protection in the territory of the Russian Federation due to continuous non-use of a trademark for any three years after its registration or provision of legal protection to international registration of mark within the territory of the Russian Federation.
- Application for termination of appellation of origin legal protection and certificate for appellation of origin use or for termination of the certificate for appellation of origin use.
- Objection to providing legal protection for a trademark that is well-known in the Russian Federation.
Antimonopoly authorities consider unfair competition cases particularly on the basis of Article 14 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” according to which unfair competition related to acquisition and exercise of exclusive right to legal entity’s means of individualization, products, works and services means of individualization is prohibited.
Lawyers and attorneys of our Agency have positive experience in handling all types of cases and are ready to assist you in successful resolving of legal conflicts.
