New Rules for Determining the Amount of Compensation for Infringement of Exclusive Rights

On January 4, 2026, a number of amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Federal Law of 07.07.2025 No. 214-FZ "On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation"), will come into force, which will change the rules for determining the amount of compensation for infringement of exclusive rights to certain intellectual property objects. In this article, we will talk about the main amendments, including new methods for calculating compensation and cases in which it is allowed to reduce its amount below the limits established by certain articles of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

How the amount of compensation is determined now

According to the basic rules in force until January 04, 2026, the right to demand compensation for infringement of exclusive rights to intellectual property (IP) is granted to the right holder on the basis of paragraph 3 of Article 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. This norm establishes the following rules:

• The copyright holder, at his discretion, may choose one of the alternative methods of protection - to demand compensation for losses or compensation from the infringer;
• Right holders of such IP objects as works (Article 1301 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), objects of related rights (Article 1311 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), objects of patent rights (Article 1406.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), trademarks (Article 1515 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), geographical indications and appellations of origin of goods (1537 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) can demand payment of compensation;
• The amount of compensation that the copyright holder can claim varies from ten thousand to five million rubles. Unlike a claim for the recovery of damages, the right holder is not obliged to document its amount. However, the final amount of compensation is determined by the court based on the nature of the violation, but within the threshold values;
• If the rights to several IP objects are violated by one action, compensation is recovered for each illegally used object. At the same time, the court may reduce its amount below the minimum limit, but not less than fifty percent of the amount of the minimum amount of all compensation for violations committed.

Thus, the law imperatively establishes not only the maximum, but also the minimum amount of compensation and does not allow going beyond it. The problem is that under certain circumstances, the amount of compensation, even calculated in the minimum allowable amount, is often disproportionate to the nature of the offense.

In this regard, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in its rulings No. 28-P of 13.12.2016 and No. 40-P of 24.07.2020 pointed out that it is necessary to ensure the possibility of reducing the amount of compensation for infringement by one action of the rights to several IP results below the established limits, since the law does not allow the court to reduce compensation on its own initiative, even if in the end its amount turns out to be excessive from the standpoint of reasonableness and justice. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation also ruled that until the legislation is amended, the courts may reduce clearly disproportionate compensation, guided by these rulings.

How will the amount of compensation be determined from 2026?

According to the explanatory note to the draft law (Draft Federal Law No. 348960-8 "On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" (as amended, introduced into the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, text as of 28.04.2023)), the purpose of the changes is primarily to implement the above resolutions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the legislator decided that the situation requires a broader and more comprehensive approach, so he provided for a number of systemic changes, in particular:

• The general rules on compensation, as well as on the types (methods) of its calculation, will be regulated by a new article - 1252.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and paragraph 3 of Article 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation will become invalid. The specifics of the recovery of compensation and its threshold values (minimum and maximum amount) will, as before, be determined by special articles provided for specific IP objects. However, changes have also been made to the special articles, for example:

1. the threshold amount of compensation for violations of exclusive rights to a work, objects of related and patent rights, trademarks will increase to ten million rubles;
2. the lower limit of compensation for violations of exclusive rights to an invention, utility model or industrial design will increase to fifty thousand rubles.

• Under the new rules, compensation will be determined in one of the following ways: in a fixed amount within the threshold values, in an amount that is a multiple of the value of counterfeit tangible media or in an amount that is a multiple of the cost of the right to use an IP object, based on the price that, under comparable circumstances, is usually charged for its lawful use in the way used by the infringer;
• The court will have the right to change the method of calculating compensation and recover it in a fixed amount if the method of calculation chosen by the right holder does not suit the specific circumstances of the violation;
• The court will also be able to reduce the amount of compensation below twice the value of counterfeit materials or the right to use, if the infringer engaged in entrepreneurial activity did not know and should not have known about the infringement of the exclusive right;
• Separate calculation methods are established for situations where several results of intellectual activity or means of individualization are illegally used in one counterfeit tangible medium. The main rule is that the total amount of compensation in such cases will be determined regardless of the number of these results.

In any case, the final amount of compensation will be determined by the court, depending on the circumstances of the case, in proportion to the scope and nature of the violation, as well as taking into account the requirements of reasonableness and fairness.

In particular, when determining the amount of compensation, the court may take into account such circumstances as the amount and nature of the damage caused, the degree of guilt of the offender, whether the violation was systematic or committed for the first time, whether it was a significant part of the business activity of the offender, etc.

We believe that the flexibility of the new approach will be able to provide rights holders with more effective protection, and violators with a punishment commensurate with the violation.