IP Court opens its doors

Following resolutions of the Plenum of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (Nos 50 and 51) issued on July 2 and the appointment of 15 judges, the new Russian Intellectual Property Court has officially opened its doors and started hearing cases.

According to the Federal Constitutional Law adopted in 2011, which amended the court system in the country, the IP Court is a specialised court within the system of arbitrazh (commercial) courts which hears IP cases as a court of first instance and as a cassation instance.

Thus, as of July 3, the arbitrazh courts cannot accept lawsuits falling under the exclusive competence of the IP Court; such lawsuits will be returned to the applicants or, if they have been mistakenly accepted, they will be transferred to the IP Court.

Lawsuits containing different, but related, issues will be heard in the IP Court if at least one of those issues falls within the jurisdiction of the IP Court.

The IP Court will act as a court of first instance, reviewing decisions of Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property, including patent and trademark registration issues and revocation actions, after the cases have been heard by the Chamber for Patent Disputes. The IP Court will also:

• consider non-use cancellation actions;
• revise the decisions of Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service on unfair competition due to IP rights transfers; and
• deal with other similar cases.

All cases will be heard by a panel of judges. Decisions can be appealed to the Presidium of the IP Court only through cassation proceedings.

If a dispute involving trademarks and commercial names falls within the jurisdiction of the arbitrazh courts, the cassation claim (second appeal) should be filed with the IP Court. Such claim will be heard by a panel of judges, and not by the Presidium of the IP Court.

The IP Court is located in the centre of Moscow at 13 Mashkova Street.

Tetiana Shulga, PETOŠEVIĆ