Press Center: Legal updates

From 1 January 2027, a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme for patent applications for inventions filed with either of the two authorities will come into force in Russia and Belarus. It will apply, inter alia, to applications that have entered the national phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The Russian Ministry of Health’s draft law “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation…” (“the Draft Law”), concerning changes to the control of the circulation of medicinal products has been published on the federal portal for draft regulatory acts.

From 1 September 2026, new rules for calculating remuneration for employees who are the authors of employee inventions, utility models and industrial designs will come into force. The document fundamentally changes the approach to such payments.

The past days have been marked by landmark rulings from the Russian Supreme and Constitutional Courts, decisions that will influence future case law and the pharmaceutical market as a whole.

On 24 November 2025, the Delhi High Court issued a judgment in a major patent dispute Medilabo Rfp Inc. v. The Controller of Patents C.A. (Comm.Ipd-Pat) 16/2024, concerning the patent eligibility of a drug for neurodegenerative diseases.

In June 2024, the pharmaceutical industry faced a new practice by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which began to consistently recognize the introduction of generic drugs onto the market as unfair competition.

On August 7, 2025, a draft law “On Amending the Federal Law ‘On Protection of Competition’” (hereinafter, the “Draft Law”) was published. Prepared by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (hereinafter, the “FAS”), it aims to significantly narrow the scope of antitrust immunities concerning the results of intellectual activity.

On 7 July 2025, Federal Law No. 214-FL «On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation» was published. This law introduces the following significant changes to the provisions on the recovery of compensation for infringement of exclusive rights to intellectual property and means of individualisation equivalent thereto.

The State Duma is considering the bill No. 818556-8 “On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” (the “Bill”), the authors of which propose to amend the procedure for making decisions on the use of inventions, utility models and industrial designs (“Objects of patent rights”) established by Article 1360 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.