Patent infringement in Russia can be considered by court or law enforcement agencies as an infringement of an exclusive right protected by civil law, administrative law (article 7.12 of the Administrative Code), or even as a crime punishable by a criminal sanction (article 14 of the Criminal code).
As a firm of attorneys-at-law (advocates) and patent attorneys, we can combine the best skills of both professions to provide our clients with an advanced and cost-effective service to enforce their patent rights or defend them against a suit based on a patent right. We are experienced to act for patent owners as well as alleged patent infringers specializing in Pharmaceuticals (including biotech), IT and microelectronics.
Patent infringement case in civil law proceedings starts in Russia by filing a suit with the local court where a defendant is located. The warning letter to the alleged infringer is to be sent at least 1 month before the suit is filed if the plaintiff claims damages or compensation. Depending on the goals the letter should either include only the requirement to stop infringement immediately or also to pay compensation (damages).
Article 1252 of the Russian Civil Code provides that a patent owner has the right to claim for :
- final injunction;
- seizure and destroying of infringing goods (in case we can collect evidence of the location of infringing goods);
- seizure and destroying of equipment used mostly for manufacturing of infringing goods (in case we can collect evidence of the location of such equipment and prove that this equipment is used for this type of infringement);
- publication of court decision in mass media;
- reinstatement of damages or payment of a lump sum compensation instead (in an amount up to RUR 5,000,000 or double reasonable royalty rate).
Such measures as preliminary injunctions are available in Russia during court procedures due to part 2 article 1252 of the Civil Code to secure the suit in patent infringement cases to the products, concerning which presumption about infringement is made.
Due to article 90 of the Procedural Code such preliminary injunction can be applied in any stage of the court procedure, in case failure to impose them can result in significant losses to the patent owner or in case non applying such measures can hinder or make impossible enforcement of the future final court action. So the patent owner can apply for the preliminary injunction in case he proves, that in case such preliminary injunction is not imposed:
- either it will be hard or impossible to enforce the court decision in the future (for example, the defendant is going to sell his enterprise (for example plant), manufacturing the infringed product or there is a threat that the defendant won’t be able to pay the damages, or infringing goods are put under export customs procedure and may leave the country, so their destroying is impossible), or
- the patent owner will suffer significant irreparable harm.
The Court considers the request for preliminary injunction and can either satisfy or refuse it. Due to part 3 article 93 of the Procedural Code, the Court can refuse such a request due to the lack of grounds for applying for a preliminary injunction.
Currently, Russian judges rarely provide preliminary injunction orders in patent infringement cases.