Amendments have been introduced in the Civil Code regarding procedural matters in connection with protection of inventions, designs, appellations of origin and geographical indications to make them comply with international agreements.

Amendments have been introduced in the Civil Code regarding procedural matters in connection with protection of inventions, designs, appellations of origin and geographical indications to make them comply with international agreements. These are Patent Cooperation Treaty, Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement regarding registration of industrial designs and Geneva Act of Lisbon Agreement regarding appellations of origin and geographical indications.

The law provides that protection shall be granted to an industrial design registered according to the international agreement if it complies with the requirements of the Russian Civil Code. Similar provisions are provided in respect of geographical indications and appellations of origin.

The law makes more specific the scope of examination of international applications and the types of decisions taken by the patent office, as well as explains the procedure of appealing such decisions. Appeals against against registration of subject matters registered according to international agreements are made in the same way as for national patents and registrations.

Also, the law provides for publication of information on PCT applications received by the patent office. This will allow any persons to submit their observations regarding the filed applications. Similar provisions are made regarding international registrations of appellations of origin and GI according to the Lisbon Agreement.