– 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 utility models and issuance of utility model patents, duplicates thereof, effective since June 19, 2021.

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

Same as under II. “Patents of Invention“.

Applicant: the inventor(s), any natural person or legal entity. 

Foreigners: must appoint a Russian patent attorney. 

Definition of a utility model: must be new, industrially applicable and related to a device.

Novelty: worldwide.  Grace period: public disclosure by the applicant or the author during six months preceding the filing date.

Exception to protection: same as for “patents“; those subjects not protectable by a utility model patent.

Priority: 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, not legalized (submitted by a separate request of the Patent Office, if the matter is handled by a patent attorney);
2. 2 copies of the specification with claims;
3. 2 copies of the drawings (21 x 29.7 cm), optional, only if they are referred to in the specification;
4. Priority document, if necessary, with a certified translation into English, French, German or Russian.

Electronic filing: possible.

Electronic signatures: are accepted. Scanned copies of wet (manual) signed documents are also accepted, however, the original must be sent at a later date.

Filing without claims: possible; claims must be filed later in response to the Official request.  

First filing requirement: only for utility models created in the Russian Federation.

Correction of the application: amendments to the utility model claims, including voluntary amendments, are allowed to be made only in response to Office action, but before the issuance of the final decision of the Patent Office, insofar as the substance of the utility model is not changed. The fee is charged only for inclusion into utility model claims of each new dependent claim, upon expiration of a two-month period from the application filing date.

Unity requirement: a utility model shall comprise a single subject matter, i.e. a single independent claim containing no alternative features (for example, by means of use of the conjunction “or” or phrase “at least …”). 

Examination: formal and substantive. 

Formal examination during which the Examining Authority shall examine the application for the presence of necessary documents and their compliance with applicable requirements, and substantive examination, which includes information search, examining the application for compliance with patentability conditions, for exceptions to protection, and for compliance with the requirement for having a disclosure of the core of claimed subject matter on application filing date.

Publication: after the granting decision.

Transformation into patent (for invention) or for industrial design: possible before the issuing of granting decision, and before the opportunity of lodging an opposition has been exhausted in the event of the issuance of a refusal to grant a patent or when application has been acknowledged withdrawn. 

Duration: validity period starts with original application filing date and lasts for ten years.

Extension: not possible.

Scope of protection: is determined by the claims. 

Legal protection obtained by a utility model: the patentee has the exclusive right to use a patented utility model. 

Working: compulsory. Non-working during a period of three years from the date of the grant of the patent renders the utility model vulnerable to involuntary license upon request of a third party at a court if the third party was refused license before.

Licensing: possible; must be recorded at the Patent Office.

Annuities – restoration: there is the possibility of restoration of a patent terminated in default of payment of annuities in due time, on petition by a patent holder, which can be filed within three years after the missed deadline for paying annuities, but before patent expiration date. If no information on having paid the patent fee for maintenance of a patent is available, said three-year period is counted from patented object registration date.

Right of prior user and right of future user: provided for. The patent has no effect against a person who was using in good faith on the territory of the Russian Federation before the utility model priority date an identical solution created independently from the author of the utility model, or made corresponding preparation for such use. This person has the right to further free use of the identical solution without extension of the scope of such use. 

Opposition against a granted utility model: same as for “patents“.

Transformation into an invention: not possible after registration. 

Infringements: are judged by the civil courts.