- PART I GENERAL PROVISIONS
- PART II CONDITIONS OF PROTECTABILITY OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTSAND THE PROCEDURE FOR FILING AN APPLICATION FOR THE GRANTOF A PATENT
- PART III EXAMINATION OF PROTECTABILITY OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
- PART IV PROTECTION OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
- PART V THE USE OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
- PART VI THE RIGHTS OF AN AUTHOR OF A SELECTION ACHIEVEMENT
- PART VII REGULATION BY THE STATE OF THE CREATION AND USE OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
- Article 24 Promotion by the State of the Creation and Useof Selection Achievements
- Article 25 Maintenance of Selection Achievements
- Article 26 Revocation of Patent
- Article 27 Cancellation of Patent
- Article 28 Liability for Infringement of the Rightsof Patent Owners
- Article 29 Liability for Infringement of Other Rightsof the Patent Owner and the Breeder
- Article 30 Publications
- Article 31 Appeals Against Decisions Taken by theState Commission
- Article 32 The Use of Selection Achievements
- Article 33 Patent Fees
- PART VIII INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
(of August 6, 1993)
PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
For the purposes of this Law:
“selection achievement” means a plant variety or an animal breed;
“variety” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon, which grouping, irrespective of its protectability, can be defined by the expression of characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes and can be distinguished from any other plant grouping of the same botanical taxon by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics;
the variety may be represented by a single plant or plants as well as a part or parts thereof provided such part or parts may be used for the purpose of reproduction of entire plants of the variety; variety shall be deemed to comprise the following protected categories: clone, line, first generation hybrid, population;
“seeds” means a plant or parts thereof used for the purpose of reproduction of the variety;
“plant material” means a plant or parts thereof used for purposes other than reproduction of the variety;
“breed” means an animal grouping which, irrespective of its protectability, has genetically determined biological and morphological characteristics some of which are specific for the given grouping and distinguish it from other groupings. The breed may be represented by female or male animals or by breeding material; breed shall be deemed to comprise the following protected categories: type, crossing of lines;
* Russian Title: Zakon Rossiyskoy Federatsii o Selektsionnich Doctizheniyach. English translation supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.
“breeding animal” means an animal used for the purpose of reproduction of a breed;
“breeding material” means a breeding animal, gametes or zygotes (embryos) thereof;
“marketable animal” means an animal used for purposes other than reproduction of the breed;
“protected selection achievement” means a variety of plants or a breed of animals registered in the State Register of Protected Selection Achievements;
“applicant” means a natural person or legal entity who has filed an application for the grant of a patent for a selection achievement.
Article 2
The legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of selection achievements shall consist of this Law, legal acts adopted on the basis thereof by the constituent Republics within the Russian Federation and implementing provisions enacted by the State authorities within their competence.
Article 3
Rights in a selection achievement shall be protected by Law and shall be certified by a patent on a selection achievement.
The patent shall certify the exclusive right of the patent owner to use the selection achievement.
The All-Russian State Commission for Testing and Protection of Selection Achievements (hereinafter referred to as “the State Commission”) shall, in accordance with this Law, carry out an integrated policy in the field of the legal protection of selection achievements in the Russian Federation. It shall receive applications for the protection of selection achievements, effect the examination, testing and registration thereof in the State Register of Protected Selection Achievements and the State Register of Selection Achievements Authorized for Use for Production Purposes, grant patents and certificates of authorship, publish official information relating to the protection of selection achievements and issue regulations and implementing provisions under this Law, and shall perform other functions specified in the Statute of the State Commission enacted by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The activities of the State Commission shall be financed from funds allocated for the purpose in the budget of the Russian Federation, fees collected in relation to patents and payments made for services and materials provided by the State Commission.
A selection achievement for which a patent has been granted by the State Commission shall be registered in the State Register of Protected Selection Achievements.
The scope of the legal protection conferred by a patent on a selection achievement shall be determined by the sum of its essential characteristics as contained in the description of the selection achievement.
The term of a patent on a selection achievement shall be 30 years from the date of registration of the selection achievement in the State Register of Protected Selection Achievements. For grapevines and ornamental, fruit and forest trees, including rootstocks thereof, the said period shall be 35 years.
PART II
CONDITIONS OF PROTECTABILITY OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS AND THE PROCEDURE FOR FILING AN APPLICATION FOR THE GRANT OF A PATENT
Article 4
Conditions of Protectability of Selection Achievements (a) Novelty.
A plant variety or animal breed shall be deemed to be new if, at the date of filing of the application for the grant of a patent, the seeds or breeding material of the given selection achievement has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the breeder or his successor in title, for purposes of exploitation of the selection achievement (b) Distinctness.
A selection achievement shall be clearly distinct from any other commonly known selection achievement existing at the time of the filing of the application.
Commonly known selection achievements may be those which have been entered in an official register of selection achievements or reference files, or of which a precise description has been published.
The filing of an application for the grant of a patent or an authorization to use the selection achievement shall likewise render that selection achievement a matter of common knowledge from the date of the application, provided that the application leads to the grant of the patent or the authorization.
(c) Uniformity.
A plant variety or animal breed shall be sufficiently uniform in its relevant characteristics, subject to the variation that may be expected from the particular features of its propagation or reproduction.
(d) Stability.
A selection achievement shall be deemed stable if its relevant characteristics remain unchanged after repeated propagation or reproduction or, in the case of a particular cycle of propagation or reproduction, at the end of each such cycle.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2)(a) of this Article, protection may be granted to varieties and breeds which, at the date of entry of the corresponding genus and species in the list of protected selection achievements, have been registered in the State Register of Selection Achievements Authorized for Use for Production Purposes. The priority of the selection achievement shall be determined by the date of receipt by the State Commission of the application containing the request for the grant of an authorization to use the said selection achievement.
The term of a patent provided for in Article 3 shall be reduced in relation to such selection achievement by the period starting from the year in which the authorization to use has been granted and ending in the year in which a patent has been granted. No provisional protection provided for in Article 15 shall apply for such selection achievements.
Article 5
Application for the Grant of a Patent
The right to file an application for the grant of the patent shall belong to the breeder or his successor in title. The application shall be filed with the State Commission.
Where a variety or breed has been developed, bred or discovered in the line of duty, the right to file an application for the grant of the patent shall belong to the employer unless otherwise provided in the employment contract.
Where there are several persons who jointly bred, developed or discovered the same selection achievement or who are the joint successors in title thereof, they may file the application jointly.
Applications may be filed through patent agents, whose powers shall be certified in a power of attorney, and who shall act in all proceedings conducted for the grant of patents.
No staff member of the State Commission or its affiliates located in the constituent Republics within the Russian Federation, autonomous regions or areas shall have the right to file an application for the grant of a patent for the duration of his employment contract.
The application for the grant of a patent shall contain: -proof of payment of the prescribed fee or of circumstances affording entitlement to exemption from payment, or to a reduction in the amount of the prescribed fee.
Requirements for the above-mentioned documents shall be established by the State Commission.
The application shall relate to one single selection achievement.
Where the application is filed by the employer, it shall be accompanied by proof of a contract concluded with the author of the selection achievement in conformity with the provisions of the paragraph 2 of this Article.
Documents for the application shall be written in Russian or another language. Where they are written in a language other than Russian, the application shall be accompanied by a Russian translation of those documents.
Article 6
Denomination of Selection Achievement
The selection achievement shall be designated by a denomination proposed by the applicant and approved by the State Commission.
The denomination must enable the selection achievement to be identified. It must be short and different from every denomination which designates an existing selection achievement of the same or of a closely related plant or animal species. It may not consist solely of figures. It must not be liable to mislead concerning the characteristics, origin or value of the selection achievement or the identity of the breeder. It must not be contrary to humanitarian principles or morality.
Where the denomination proposed by the applicant does not satisfy the requirements of this Article, he shall be required to submit another denomination within the period prescribed by the State Commission.
Any person who uses the protected selection achievement shall be required to use the denomination thereof registered in the State Register of Protected Selection Achievements.
The denomination may be changed with the consent of the State Commission where valid reasons are supplied in support of the change.
Article 7
Priority of the Selection Achievement
The priority of the selection achievement shall be determined by the date of receipt by the State Commission of the application for the grant of a patent or of the request for the grant of an authorization to use the selection achievement.
Where two or more applications claiming the same selection achievement are received by the State Commission on the same day, the priority shall be determined by the application whose sending date is earlier. Where the examination finding is that the said applications have the same sending date, the patent may be granted on the application having an earlier registration number with the State Commission, unless the agreement between the applicants provides otherwise.
Where an application with the State Commission was preceded by an application filed by the applicant in any State party to an agreement for the protection of selection achievements concluded with the Russian Federation, the applicant shall enjoy the priority of the first application within 12 months from the filing date thereof.
The applicant shall, when filing the application with the State Commission, indicate the date of priority. Within six months following the date of receipt of the application by the State Commission, the applicant shall be required to furnish a copy of the first application duly certified by the competent authority of the State where it has been filed. That copy should be accompanied by a translation thereof in Russian. Where the applicant complies with the said conditions, he shall not be required to furnish the additional documents and any material necessary for the purposes of testing for a period of three years following the filing date of the first application.
PART III
EXAMINATION OF PROTECTABILITY OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
Article 8
Preliminary Examination of Patent Applications
A preliminary examination shall be carried out within a period of one month in order to determine the priority date and to verify the presence of the required documents and their compliance with the prescribed conditions.
The State Commission may request the applicant to furnish, within the prescribed time limit, missing or corrected documents relating to the application.
During the preliminary examination the applicant may, on his own initiative, supplement, clarify or correct any part of the application.
If the applicant fails, within the prescribed time limit, to furnish the corrected documents or documents missing at the filing date, the application shall be rejected and the applicant shall be notified accordingly.
Where the applicant wishes to contest the decision taken in the preliminary examination, he may do so, within three months following the date of receipt of the decision, by lodging an appeal with the courts.
Where the preliminary examination of an application has produced a favorable result, the applicant shall be notified to the effect that his application has been accepted.
The particulars of the accepted applications shall be published in the Official Gazette.
Article 9
Any interested party may, within six months following the date of publication of the particulars of the application, file with the State Commission a notice of opposition contesting the novelty of the claimed selection achievement.
The State Commission shall notify the applicant of the notice and give the essential grounds of the opposition. In the case of disagreement with the notice of opposition the applicant may, within three months from the date of receipt of the said notice, lodge an appeal with the State Commission stating the grounds thereof.
The State Commission, on the basis of all available documents, shall take a decision and shall notify the interested parties accordingly.
Where the claimed selection achievement does not comply with the condition of novelty, a decision to refuse the patent grant shall be taken.
Article 10
Testing Distinctness, Uniformity and
Stability of the Selection Achievement
Testing of the selection achievement as to its compliance with the conditions of distinctness, uniformity and stability shall be carried out in accordance with a methodology and within the periods prescribed by the State Commission.
The applicant shall furnish a quantity of seeds or breeding material required for the purposes of testing and shall deliver the same to the address specified and within periods prescribed by the State Commission.
The State Commission may take into account the results of tests which have been carried out by the competent authorities of other States on the basis of bilateral agreements, the results of tests which have been carried out by other organizations of the Russian Federation on the basis of contracts concluded with the State Commission, as well as data provided by the applicant.
Where the selection achievement is found to comply with the requirements of protectability and its denomination is found to meet the conditions prescribed in Article 6 of this Law, the State Commission shall take a decision to grant the patent and shall make the description of the selection achievement.
PART IV
PROTECTION OF SELECTION ACHIEVEMENTS
Article 11
The State Register of Protected Selection Achievements shall include the following entries: -date of registration of the selection achievement and registration number thereof;
- family name, forenames and patronymic of the patent owner and his address;
-family name, forenames and patronymic of the author of the selection achievement and his address;
-information on the act of assignment of the patent to another person indicating his family name, forenames and address; Article 12 Patent
The patent shall be granted to the applicant. Where several applicants are indicated in the request for the grant of a patent, the patent certificate shall be granted to the applicant whose name is mentioned first. The conditions for the joint exercising of the rights conferred by the patent shall be determined by agreement between them.
In the case of loss or damage of the patent certificate a duplicate may be issued subject to the payment of the prescribed patent fee.
Article 13 Rights of the Patent Owner A selection achievement shall be deemed to be essentially derived from another (initial) selection achievement when, being clearly distinguishable from the initial variety or breed,
-it is predominantly derived from the initial selection achievement, or from a selection achievement that is itself predominantly derived from the initial selection achievement, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial selection achievement,
-except for the differences which result from the act of derivation, such as individual selection from the initial selection achievement, selection of an induced mutant, backcrossing, or transformation by genetic engineering, it conforms to the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial selection achievement.
Article 14
Acts Not Infringing the Rights of the Patent Owner
Law on the Protection of Selection Achievements *
Definitions
Legislation of the Russian Federation on Selection Achievements
Legal Protection of Selection Achievements
Examination of Novelty of the Selection Achievement
Registration of a Selection Achievement