Patent Attorneys Law Amended

Last February, the legislative draft “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Patent Attorneys’” (No. 910300-7) was submitted to the State Duma for consideration.

The draft proposes to amend the definition of the status of a patent attorney, the activities of patent attorneys and organizations of patent attorneys.

The draft envisages securing the rights, obligations and responsibilities of organizations providing patent attorney services, as well as vesting the patent attorney with the rights and guarantees necessary to ensure the rights of patent attorneys and their principals.

The draft also introduces a definition of the “organization of patent attorneys” and defines its obligations towards the client - principal and liability for violation of the requirements of the law when providing patent attorney services. Complaints from clients of such organization will be considered by the appeal committee.

The draft introduces the concept of client-attorney privilege, stipulates the obligation of authorities and other organizations to provide a responses to a patent attorney's inquiry, equates the status of a patent attorney in court proceedings with the status of an attorney at law.

On September 30, the legislative draft was unanimously adopted in the first reading.

The government and the relevant committee of the Duma presented their opinions on the legislative draft, in which, having supported the draft conceptually, they made a number of remarks that the deputies propose to take into account when preparing the legislative draft for the second reading.