Term for examination request for PCT national phase in Russia

From which date should we calculate the term for filing the examination request for a PCT national phase application in Russia?

The general rule is that the deadline for filing the request for the substantive examination in Russia is three years from the filing date. For applications entering the national phase in any contracting state, the filing date of the international application is considered the actual filing date in that state.

However, in late 2019, we started to receive conflicting information that the deadline is in fact calculated as three years from entry into the national phase. After multiple inquiries from our clients, we have obtained an official clarification from the Russian Patent Office (see the original letter and its translation below).

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Letterhead: The Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent)

17.01.2020

№ 08/16-25105

To: Sojuzpatent

13 Bldg. 5 Myasnitskaya St.,

101000 Moscow, Russia

info@sojuzpatent.com

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (hereinafter referred to as Rospatent) has examined the inquiry from Sojuzpatent LLC regarding clarification of the question of calculating the term for filing the substantive examination request for an international application entering the national phase in the Russian Federation. After considering the inquiry, which falls within our jurisdiction, we provide you with the following information.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 1386 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the substantive examination of an application for an invention is carried out at the applicant’s or a third party’s request. The request can be submitted to Rospatent upon the filing of the application for an invention, or within three years of the filing date of the application.

Pursuant to Article 11 (3) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (Washington, 06/19/1970), any international application that meets the requirements established for it, and for which the international filing date is set, has the force of a correctly executed national application in each designated state from the international filing date, which is regarded as the actual filing date in each designated state.

Therefore, the term for filing a request for the substantive examination of an international application entering the national phase in the Russian Federation is calculated from the international filing date of such an application.

Head of Department for Organizing the Provision of State Services            

D.V.Travnikov

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Accordingly, the three-year term for filing the examination request should be counted from the international filing date.