The State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on patent examination outsourcing

On June 10, the State Duma of the Russian Federation held a discussion of a bill prepared for first reading on amendments to the Civil Code, providing for the involvement of accredited organizations in conducting an information search and preliminary patentability assessment as part of the examination of applications for inventions and utility models in essence. Adoption of the bill will officially approve the powers of the State Unitary Enterprise “Tatarstan TsNTI” subordinated to the Ministry of Economy of the Republic for implementation of the above functions.

The document notes that accreditation of Russian scientific and educational organizations will be free of charge. Moreover, they must have competencies in specific areas of knowledge. A preliminary information search service will be provided to applicants on a voluntary basis. However, the cost of assessing patentability will be determined by scientific and educational institutions, based on the complexity, scope and duration of each information search in contracts concluded between the applicant and organizations.

In June 2019, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan concluded a tripartite agreement on cooperation in support of development of the sphere of intellectual property. Under the Agreement, it is planned to establish a center of competence on the basis of the State Unitary Enterprise “Tatarstan TsNTI” subordinated to the Ministry of economy of the Republic. The functional purpose of the center will include, among others, the preliminary information search and patentability assessment.

The bill provides for the creation of conditions for a preliminary information search and patentability assessment of the claimed technical solution by Russian scientific and educational organizations accredited in Rospatent. The adoption of the bill will allow the official approval of the authority of the TsNTI for implementation of the functions of an accredited organization.