Maksim Volkov, Head of Dispute Resolution Practice at PATENTUS, commented for Pravo.ru on the new presidential decree on a special procedure for acquiring exclusive rights to means of individualization from copyright holders from unfriendly countries.
As the expert noted, the decision to introduce restrictions may be related to the interest of foreign copyright holders in transactions on selling intellectual property in order to obtain the funds that remain in Russia.
Foreign companies leaving Russia are primarily interested not in patents and trademarks, but in trade secrets (know-how), since the first ones relate to assets, the alienation of which does not mean the termination of the enterprise's activities, says Maksim.
The expert added:
· It is worth noting that the circle of persons and transactions covered by the new decree is narrower compared to Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 322 of May 27, 2022, which provides for payments related to the violation or use of intellectual property. The new decree sets a limitation on both the transaction amount (from 15 million rubles) and the type of object (works of science and literature, pieces of art, and the like are excluded from the list). The decree also covers guarantees and securities related to transactions;
· It is not yet clear what specific requirements will be imposed on the transactions for their approval and under what conditions the transfer of funds from the special account "O" to the seller will be permitted. As a result, we can predict a general decrease in the interest of foreign companies in transactions with intellectual property.
Full version of the article is available here.
Image: Freepik
