Russian IP Court Opens its Doors on July 3

Following July 2 resolutions of the Plenum of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (No. 50 and 51) and upon the appointment of 15 judges, the new Russian Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) officially opened its doors and started hearing cases.

According to the Federal Constitutional Law adopted in 2011, which amended the court system in the country, the IP Court is a specialized court within the system of arbitrazh (commercial) courts that considers IP cases as a court of first instance and cassation instance.

Thus, as of July 3, the arbitrazh courts cannot accept for consideration the lawsuits falling under the exclusive competence of the IP Court; such lawsuits will be returned to applicants or, in case they were mistakenly accepted, transferred to the IP Court.

The lawsuits containing a few different but related requirements will be heard in the IP Court if at least one of those requirements falls within the jurisdiction of the IP Court.

The IP Court will act as a court of first instance reviewing the Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT) decisions, including patent and trademark registration issues and revocation actions, after the cases are considered by the Chamber for Patent Disputes. The IP Court will also consider the non-use cancellation actions, revise the decisions of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) on unfair competition due to IP rights transferring and deal with other similar cases.

All cases will be heard by the panel of judges. Such decisions can be appealed only within the cassation proceedings and the body considering such cassation appeals is the Presidium of the IP Court.

In case the trademark and commercial name disputes fall within the jurisdiction of the arbitrazh (commercial) courts, the cassation claim (second appeal) should be filed with the IP Court. Such claim will be heard by the panel of judges and not by the Presidium of the IP Court.

The IP Court is located in the center of Moscow at 13 Mashkova Street.

By: Tetiana Shulga

For more information, please contact Tetiana Shulga at our Ukraine office.