Intellectual Property Law

About the course

The main source of intellectual property regulation in Russia is Part Four of the Russian Civil Code. The course covers the latest legislative changes and approaches to interpreting them, the practice of applying the rules and new solutions to long-standing problems. Participants can put their questions to practicing experts working in intellectual property.

HSE IPAA develops its intellectual property programs in partnership with FIPS, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FGBU FIPS).

Program

1. Legal protection of means of individualization of goods, works and services

Application of trademark law in practice: types of trademarks, term of legal protection, protection of well-known trademarks. Disputes over conflicts between trademarks and other means of individualization: similarity of goods, distinctiveness of designations. Trademark registration: grounds for refusal, priority, filing oppositions. Case law. Challenging and invalidating the grant of legal protection. Protection of appellations of origin. Application of international treaties.

2. Patent law

Legal regime of an invention: patentability requirements, terms of protection. Relations with inventors: employee inventions, payment of remuneration. Grant and challenge of a patent: the role of the patent attorney, mistakes in drafting applications, grounds for refusal, provisional legal protection, invalidation of a patent. Protection and use of secret inventions. Protection of industrial designs and utility models. Application of international treaties.

3. Rights to computer programs and integrated circuit layouts

Scope of copyright in software, protection and enforcement of rights in software products. Cases of free use of computer programs. Rights to programs created on commission and in the course of employment. Disposal of rights to computer programs. Fundamentals of the legal regulation of integrated circuit layouts.

4. Protection of other intellectual property

Use of intellectual property on the internet and the legal regime of domain names. Protection of rights to trade secrets (know-how), conditions for classifying information as know-how under the Russian Civil Code. Protection and enforcement of rights to a company name.

5. Intellectual property transactions

Procedure for disposing of exclusive rights and transfer of exclusive rights. Open license as a public offer. Granting third parties the right of use free of charge.

Contract for the alienation of an exclusive right: execution, methods of setting the price and payment terms, essential terms, consequences of breach, return of the exclusive right in the event of a material breach by the acquirer.

License agreement: execution, types of licenses, exclusive and non-exclusive licenses, sublicense agreements, compulsory licenses, protection of the parties’ rights in the event of breach, material breach as grounds for termination.

Commercial concession agreement (franchising): practical issues in concluding the agreement, specific terms depending on the rights transferred.

Other transactions: pledge of exclusive rights, trust management, contribution of rights to charter capital. Documenting rights to intellectual property in supply, work and other civil-law contracts.

Upcoming dates are in the /schedule section; other programs for lawyers are in the /programs section.