On March 12th, the Constitutional Court issued Resolution No.13-P/2026, declaring the constitutionality of Section 1 of Article 1362 «Compulsory License for an Invention, Utility Model or Industrial Design» of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The ruling stipulates that decisions on granting a compulsory license must be substantiated and reasoned. «Attorney’s Newspaper» has contacted experts, including Aleksey Zalesov, Head of Intellectual Property Practice, for comments.
The court has ruled compulsory licensing as a measure of last resort, aimed at preventing the non-use or under-use of patents, including due to abuse of rights, and eliminating shortages of goods and services on the Russian market. The court is also obligated to consider the actual needs of the Russian market and the capabilities of the licensee. Compulsory license can be revoked once the market is saturated and the patent holder is willing to supply his product at a reasonable price. Setting monopolistically high prices is also considered under-use.
Such licensing requires sufficient grounds proven by the court and is not intended for widespread use.
As Dr. Aleksey Zalesov notes, this Constitutional Court ruling examines in detail not only the issue of compulsory licensing, but also the overall balance of IP rights and the public interest:
«This Resolution significantly advances Russian patent law, which has only just begun to develop in this regard. In other countries patent abuse has long been recognized as a form of antitrust violation. Russian courts have never clarified anything like this before.»
You can read the full version of the article by following this link.