The war in Ukraine and the Western sanctions in response thereto resulted in economic countermeasures on the part of Russia that also include intellectual property rights.
On 6 March, for instance, the Russian government proclaimed by decree that patent owners from the 48 countries adopting an, as the decree describes it, ‘unfriendly’ attitude towards Russia, are to receive a 0% compensation for patent licenses granted by the authorities to third parties without the patent owner’s consent. The Netherlands, as one of the 27 EU member states, is one of those counties. The other listed countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Micronesia, Monaco, Norway, Iceland, and San Marino. That would mean affected patent owners can no longer claim any damages.
Before the decree was approved, the compensation for such a compulsory license amounted to 0.5% of the profits ensuing from the unauthorized use.
The Russian government is also hinting at the possibility of proclaiming a similar decree regarding trademark rights.
At the moment, no proper estimate can be made of the IP situation in the longer term, but we’re keeping a close eye on the developments of course. Should you have any questions, we’ll try to advise you as best as we can.
