– Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, effective since January 1, 2008, amended as of June 13, 2023.
– The Administrative Regulations for rendering by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the public service of state registration of industrial designs and issuance of design patents, duplicates thereof, effective since June 19, 2021.

– See other common legislation under “Patents of Invention“.

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since July 1, 1965.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 26, 1970.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since December 15, 1972.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), in force since May 31, 1992. (Russia joined the Hague Convention in 2018 to be capable of filing applications according to the Hague system.)
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since August 22, 2012.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Geneva Act, since February 28, 2018.
– Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention, since April 11, 2021.

Applicant: any individual or company. 

Foreigners: the same possibilities of protection as for nationals including Convention priority. 

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must appoint a Russian patent attorney. 

Notion: solutions of the exterior appearance of the claimed article relating to industrially manufactured articles or hand-made articles by craftsmen are considered industrial designs. An industrial design shall enjoy legal protection if it is novel and ingenious. 

Novelty: an industrial design is novel if the entirety of its essential features causing aesthetic and/or ergonomic peculiarities of the article is not known from information generally available anywhere in the world before the priority date of the industrial design.  Grace period for the creator: twelve months.

Originality: an industrial design is ingenious, if essential features thereof derive from the creative nature of peculiarities of an article, in particular if information which became publicly accessible worldwide before the claimed design priority date does not reveal the known solution of the exterior appearance of an article intended for similar purposes, whose general impression produced upon an informed consumer is identical to that produced by the claimed design on images depicting an exterior appearance of said article. 

Exceptions to protection: caused exclusively by the technical function of articles; solutions capable of misleading the consumers of an article as to a manufacturer of said article or manufacture place, or a product for which the article serves as a container, a packaging, a label, in particular solutions identical or confusingly similar to third party intellectual property items or those including said items, provided that the rights to said items came into being before the date of priority of claimed design, except for cases of seeking the legal protection for claimed design by a holder of exclusive right to such item or by a third party, but in view of a consent from said exclusive right holder; articles contrary to the public interests or to the principles of humanity and morality.

Series application: no provision; a multiple design can be protected within a single design application. The varieties of the industrial design are not limited for such single application. Industrial designs, in the event of the presence of a corresponding group of designs within a single design patent application, are to be interrelated to such extent so as to create a common creative concept. 

Convention priority: can be claimed according to the Paris Convention.

Territory covered: the territory of the Russian Federation.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, no legalization (submitted by a separate request of the Patent Office, if the matter is handled by a patent attorney);
2. Assignment deed, if any;
3. 2 descriptions; the description of an industrial design shall disclose the essence of the claimed solution of the exterior appearance of the article;
4. Design images are submitted as photographs sized 18 x 24 cm; other images are provided sized A4. For small articles (such as wrist watches), images may be 9 x 12 cm, 13 x 18 cm in size. A three-dimensional design application must comprise ¾ front view of claimed design accompanied by such quantity of additional design views which would be sufficient for detailed disclosure of the exterior appearance of an article, such as front views, left views, rear views, top views, bottom views. A single view is sufficient for a planar design. All design images are submitted in triplicate. General drawings, ergonomic schemes, confection charts are submitted in duplicate. It is allowed to use broken lines on design images in order to show parts of claimed article that is not claimed; surface shadings are allowed; in total, not more than 7 images per a single variant of claimed design;
5. Priority document, if any.

Electronic filing: possible.

For a change of name or address: an original extract from the Commercial Register confirming the change of name or address, no legalization required.

Amendment of application: possible, without paying the State fee, within two months as of the filing date, and, with paying the State fee, for inclusion of a new design into a multiple design, afterwards, at any stage of the examination of the application, but before the issuance of the final decision of the Patent Office, insofar as the substance of the design is not changed. 

Division: possible. 

Examination: a formal and substantive examination is carried out.

Response and objections: the applicant has the right to prejudicial appeal of actions (inaction) and decisions made as a result of execution of the state function by the Patent Office. Prejudicial appeal may apply to Official Action of Allowance to grant design patent, refusal to grant design patent, a decision on regarding design application withdrawn, and actions (inaction) of officers responsible to execution of said state function. These actions can be opposed by the applicant by lodging an opposition to the Patent Dispute Chamber within a seven-month period after receipt of a decision by the Patent Office or copies of documents requested from the Patent Office and cited to design application in the Refusal to grant design patent, provided that said copies of cited documents were requested by the applicant within a three-month period from the date of receipt of the decision issued on the design application. 

Appeals: may be filed with a court against the decision of the Patent Dispute Chamber within three months from the day on which the applicant receives the decision. 

Reinstatement of a missed time limit: a time limit for lodging an opposition to the Patent Dispute Chamber, if missed by applicant, may be reinstated,provided that a documentary evidence of excusable reasons why said time limit was missed is submitted by the applicant. A missed time limit reinstatement petition is allowed to be filed by the applicant within a twelve-month period after expiration of the statutory time limit. The reinstatement petition is filed with the Patent Dispute Chamber simultaneously with an opposition. 

Registration: the Patent Office records the design for which a patent has been issued in the State Register of Designs of the Russian Federation.

Delivery of document: about 6 to 10 months after filing. The registration certificate is issued in electronic format. It is possible to request the certificate in paper format, with additional fees.

Right of protection: the holder of a patent has the exclusive right to the design. This means that the industrial design for which the patent has been issued may not be used without the consent of the patent holder.

Scope of protection: is provided only by the design images. The title of the claimed design and Locarno International Class do not affect the scope of protection.

Beginning of protection: from the date of filing. 

Duration: five years from the date of filing, renewable up to a maximum of twenty-five years.

Renewal: a five-year renewal of a design patent is possible on the patent holder’s request; wherein a total patent term for industrial design cannot last longer than twenty-five years. 

Annuities: are due on the anniversary date of the filing date. 

Restoration: there is the possibility of restoration of a patent, terminated in default of payment of annuities in due time, on a petition of a patent holder which can be filed within three years after the missed deadline for paying annuities, but before patent expiration date.

Marking of registered goods: not obligatory. 

Working: in case of failure to work or insufficient working within four years from the date of granting, an involuntary license may be obtained by an interested party if necessary before a court.

Licenses: possible; must be registered with the Patent Office. 

Assignment: possible; must be registered with the Patent Office; the assignment is not allowed if it may become a reason for misleading the consumers as to a product of a manufacturer thereof.

Right of prior user and right of future user: the same as for “patents“. 

Opposition: possible during the entire term of the design.

Compulsory licenses and expropriation: the Government of the Russian Federation has the right in the interests of public safety to allow the use of an industrial property title without the approval of the patent owner on payment to him of a commensurate compensation.

Infringement: the law stipulates that no one may use an invention without the patentee’s consent. If infringement is suspected, the patentee can bring the matter before the ordinary civil courts. An industrial design is regarded as having been used in an article if such article comprises all essential features of said industrial design or a combination of features, whose general impression produced upon an informed consumer is identical to that produced by patented design, provided that the articles serve for similar purposes. If design infringement takes place, a patentee may lay down his/her demands, in particular those for recovery damages or payment of a compensatory amount ranging from RUB 10,000 to RUB 5,000,000 as it may be resolved by court, depending upon the nature of infringement, or in an amount of the doubled cost of the right to use of industrial design, said cost being defined by a price which is usually applicable, under comparable circumstances, for lawful use of a corresponding industrial design in the same manner used by an infringer.