The registers of the inventions and the utility models of the Russian Federation. What is it and why are they needed for?

The state registers of inventions and utility models are a set of the records of the State Register made in accordance with an established form and which contain the information on the inventions and the utility models for which patents have been issued, while the inventions have their own state register, and the utility models have their own one, both registers are in no way connected with each other and they contain the very similar list of the information that is indicated in the particular register.

The State Register is maintained by entering the information on the invention into the State Register by the authority that has made a decision on the grant of a patent, and by making appropriate amendments and supplements to the State Register records.

The registers of the subject matters of intellectual industrial property, namely the Register of the Inventions, the Register of the Utility Models, are maintained by the authorized organization of Rospatent – the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Federal Institute of Industrial Property” (FIPS).

There is the information resource “Open Registers” at the official website of the Patent Office of the Russian Federation, which is formed on the basis of the publicly available information on the registered results of intellectual activities and the means of individualization, including the inventions and the utility models entered into the relevant state registers and published in the official publications of Rospatent, by regular updating.

The above resource is the information reference source that can be used by any person to search for the information on the registered results of the intellectual activities and the means of individualization, as well as other information related to the status of the granted patent/certificate or the state of the office proceedings for the applications filed to Rospatent. The reference information is structured by a number of the patent/certificate or by a registration number of the application.

Please note that the information resource “Open Registers” may contain errors caused by technical distorting the information, while updating the resource. The errors are corrected immediately as they are detected. The above resource may be used by any person absolutely free of charge, it is in the public domain.

If it is necessary to confirm officially the information published in the information resource “Open Registers,” the FIPS provides, at the user’s request, an official written certificate prepared on the basis of the information from the relevant state register.

It is possible to view the official publication in a PDF format for the patents/certificates for: The inventions and the utility models published starting from 10.01.2005 (for the inventions – from No. 2243631, for the utility models – from No. 43117).

            We shall consider at the example of the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation the way the information is entered into the register, the basis for entering it into the state register and the information that is contained in the state register.

So, the basis for entering the information on the state registration of the invention into the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation shall be the decision of Rospatent on the grant of the patent adopted in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation.

The state registration of the invention and the grant of the patent shall be carried out in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 1393 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, subject to the payment of a relevant patent fee (a fee for the grant of the patent and its registration). If the applicant has failed to pay the patent fee in the established manner, the registration of the invention and the grant of the patent shall not be carried out, and the relevant application shall be deemed withdrawn on the basis of the decision of the Federal Executive Authority on Intellectual Property. If the applicant submits a document confirming the grounds for exemption from the payment of the patent fee, the state registration of the invention and the grant of the patent shall be carried out without the payment of the patent fee for the registration of the invention and the grant of the patent.

Rospatent shall enter the following information into the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation:

- the registration number of the invention (the patent number);

- the registration number of the application for the grant of the patent;

- the date of filing the application for the grant of the patent;

- the start date of counting the patent validity period;

- the priority date(s) of the invention;

            - the information on the author(s) of the invention: the surname, the name, the patronymic (in full), the code(s) of the country(countries) of his (their) place(s) of residence in accordance with the standard of the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter referred to as the WIPO) ST.3 “The recommended standard for two-letter codes for representing countries, administrative divisions and intergovernmental organizations” (hereinafter referred to as the WIPO ST.3);

- the information on the patent holder: the surname, the name, the patronymic (in full), the name of a legal entity, his/its (their) place of residence, location with the indication of the code of the country in accordance with the WIPO standard ST.3. If the patent is granted in the name of the Russian Federation or the subject of the Russian Federation, the name of the state customer acting on behalf of the Russian Federation, the subject of the Russian Federation shall be indicated additionally. If the patent is granted in the name of the performer of a state or municipal contract, the fact that he/it is the performer of the relevant contract shall be indicated additionally in the information;

- an address for correspondence with the patent holder or his/its representative;

- the name of the invention;

- the additional information (in particular, the information on the existence of the application for the alienation of the patent, the information on the existence of the representative of the patent holder, the information on the state customer, if the patent is granted in the name of the performer of the state or municipal contract);

- the date of the registration of the invention;

- the date of the grant of the patent;

- the date of the publication of the information on the grant of the patent and the number of the official bulletin.

If the author has refused to be mentioned as such, when publishing the information on the grant of the patent, then the mark “not published” shall be entered into the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation.

All the above information is publicly available, that is, any interested person can get acquainted with it, and it is in the public domain. If one needs any of the above information, he should simply select the relevant register at the official website of the Patent Office in the section “Open Registers”, enter the patent number into a search box and get all the information regarding this patent.

As to entering the records on the amendments and the supplements into the information of the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation, the following records with the indication of the date of the publication of the amendment or supplement shall be entered into the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation containing the information on the registered invention, under the heading “Amendments and Supplements”:

- on correcting the obvious and technical errors in the records of the State Register of the Inventions of the Russian Federation;

- on the registered agreement on the alienation of the exclusive right to the invention;

- on the registered license (sub-license) agreement on granting the right to the use of the invention;

- on the registered franchise (sub-franchise) agreement on granting the right to the use of the invention;

- on the registered pledge (subsequent pledge) agreement of the exclusive right to the invention;

- on the registered amendment entered into the registered agreement;

- on the registered transfer of the exclusive right to the invention without the agreement;

- on terminating (early terminating) the registered license (sub-license) agreement, franchise (sub-franchise) agreement, or pledge (subsequent pledge) agreement;

- on cancelling the patent due to the fact that it is recognized as invalid in full or in part;

- on early terminating the patent at the request of the patent holder;

- on terminating the patent for an invention (a group of inventions) in connection with the grant of the patent for an identical utility model (a group of utility models);

- on early terminating the patent due to the non-payment of the patent fee for maintaining the patent in force within the established period;

- on restoring the patent;

- on filing the application for an open license;

- on withdrawing the application for an open license;

- on withdrawing the application for the alienation of the patent;

- on amending the name and/or address of the location of the patent holder being a legal entity;

- on amending the surname, the name, the patronymic of the author, the patent holder being an individual and/or on amending the country code of the place of residence of the patent holder, the author of the invention;

- on extending the validity period of the patent;

- on granting a duplicate patent;

- on amending the address for correspondence with the patent holder or his representative;

- on granting (for the remaining period) the patent due to the termination of the USSR copyright certificate for an invention on the territory of the Russian Federation;

- on other amendments related to the registration of the invention.

The information on the patents for the utility models is contained in the Register of the Utility Models. This Register is formed in approximately the same way as the Register of the Inventions and it contains the similar information.