Both the Patent and the Trademark Laws of the RF regulate that decisions of the Russian Patent Office on patent and trademark applications could be appealed in the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office. If the applicant is still dissatisfied with the decision of the Board of Appeal, it may apply further to the Supreme Patent Board. The said laws regulate that the issues connected with determination of patentability of inventions and registrability of trademarks, reinstatement of missed terms and the like are solely within competence of the Supreme Patent Board, decisions of which shall be final, i.e. the issues were not supposed to be treated in court.
Pursuant to the Patent and Trademark Laws the Courts, Arbitration Tribunals and Courts of Arbitration consider only the cases, that are not directly connected with patent examination, namely:
For some time after introduction of the Patent and Trademark Laws the said provisions were not contested though the Supreme Patent Board did not actually exist during six years. Then there appeared several applicants who were dissatisfied with the decisions of the Board of Appeals and in the absence of the Supreme Patent Board they had to take a tiresome path to protect their rights in court. At first the courts and arbitration tribunals did not accept the cases connected with patentability, giving grounds that such issues were beyond their jurisdiction. Later both the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (Resolution of 9 November 1994) and the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Tribunal (Resolution of 15 October 1996) acknowledged the right of natural persons and legal entities to file appeals in courts or arbitration tribunals on any decision of the administrative bodies of the Russian Patent Office. So, the niche was filled in and things seemed more or less satisfactory.
The situation in this sphere has recently changed. Pursuant to the Resolution No. 367 of the Russian Federation Government the Supreme Patent Board was established in Russia. The Supreme Patent Board should consider appeals and petitions of applicants and their agents on decisions of the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office and consider several specific issues attributed to its jurisdiction. Accepted has been the Statute on the Supreme Patent Board and the Rules for filing complaints with the Supreme Patent Board. New items have been introduced into the official patent fees, namely those for filing actions with the Supreme Patent Board.
But the position, title and rights of the Supreme Patent Board did not meet the long expectations The Supreme Patent Body was initially thought of as a sort of special court, a federal quasi-judicial body totally independent from the Patent Office proper. This is natural since it should review decisions of the Patent Office and its structural units and issue final decisions.
But now (until a new Law is accepted) the Supreme Patent Board has been formed also as an administrative structure within the Patent Office, which is chaired by the Head of the Patent Office, who also endorses its decisions. Hence, the Supreme Patent Board is just one more purely administrative body. And the right to apply to court remains. So, now before applying to court the applicant has to go through two administrative bodies of the Patent Office instead of one and pay the official fees twice.
It should be noted that the official fees have not increased actually, since in sum the fees for filing objections with the Board of Appeals and the Supreme Patent Board are equal to the fees due to be paid formerly when appealing to the Board of Appeals. The official fees for appealing to the Supreme Patent Board are even two times less then those for the Board of Appeals. But the time allowed for consideration of the case in the Supreme Patent Board is two times greater then in the lower instance - about six months. Given the six month term allowed for preparation of the complaint on decision of the Board of Appeals, the road to court has become almost a year longer.