Provisional Protection for Industrial Designs in Russia

New important amendments related to the state registration of industrial designs will be enforced this summer. Federal Law of December 27, 2018, № 549-FZ, “On amendments to the fourth part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation,” introduces provisional protection for industrial designs, which is similar in meaning to the provisional protection for inventions. For industrial design applicants, this change means the following:

• It becomes possible to publish an industrial design application on the applicant’s request after the formal examination has been completed;
• After the grant and registration, the design owner can claim monetary compensation in case of an unauthorized use of the design by a third party between the date of the publication of the application and the date of the publication of the information on the granted patent.

Meanwhile, after the publication, any person can have access to the application documents.

These amendments mostly aim to support the fashion industry and provide a more efficient protection of designers’ rights.

The law enters into force on June 27, 2019. We are ready to provide additional information at your request.