The draft law aimed at improving the regulatory framework for patent attorneys acting in Russia was approved in the first reading by the State Duma. The relevant documents are available in the database of the Lower House of Parliament.
Amendments were proposed by Mr. Ilyas Umahanov, Deputy Chairman, Federation Council, Ms. Lilia Gumerova, Chairman, Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, and Mr. Dmitry Vasilenko, her Deputy.
The proposal is designed to further develop the regulatory framework for the legal relationship with patent attorneys and candidates to patent attorneys. The amendments set forth the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the entities providing services of the patent attorneys to third parties, as well as the conferral of certain rights and guarantees on a patent attorney.
Furthermore, the document introduces a normative definition of the organization of patent attorneys and defines its obligations towards a client.
The following new features are also introduced:
formalizing the possibility of establishing a patent attorney’s office;
introducing patent attorney secrecy;
equating the patent attorney status in legal proceedings with that of a lawyer;
introducing and obligation of State authorities and other organizations to respond to a patent attorney’s request within one month;
granting patent attorneys with the right of access to Rospatent’s information resources containing information on IP rights.
"The adoption of the draft law will contribute to enhancing the prestige of the patent attorney profession in Russia, as well as to improving innovation level in the country. Thanks to the amendments, the number of patent attorneys in Russia will increase. The document provides patent attorneys with the opportunity to establish and organize a professional community, which would also positively influence application quality. The establishment of technology centers, national technical initiatives centers, and patent offices, responsible for patent analytics, is also a major challenge, as this development is impossible without an analysis of international experience in this field", said Rospatent Head Mr. Grigory Ivliev.
Background information:
The draft law was registered by the State Duma on 27 February 2020. It was approved by the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation on 22 May. The amendments were submitted to the State Duma for consideration on 13 July.
