Russian Duma Amends the Law on Patent Attorneys

The State Duma approved the law introducing changes to the law on Patent Attorneys.

Changes have been made in many articles, in particular:

• definition of work of patent attorneys is given;
• forms of activity of patent attorneys are specified;
• obligations of a patent attorney are specified and his rights are expanded. In particular, a patent attorney will be empowered to request information from the government bodies required for complying with instructions of the client. The government offices will be obliged to provide the required information;
• client-attorney privilege is introduced;
• the situations of conflict of interest are detailed in which a patent attorney has no right to accept instructions from the client.

The law has been signed by President and published on December 21, 2021. It will take effect one year after its publication.