On July 22, 2010, “Hostmaster”, the administrator of the domain zone “.UA ”, introduced the registration of Cyrillic domain names in domain zones “.com.ua” and “.kiev.ua”.

The Registration of Cyrillic domains is implemented by using the IDN (Internationalized Domain Names), these are the domain names containing characters of national alphabets.

According to “Hostmaster”, such introduction solves the problem of domain names depletion, as well as helps securing the personality of a person or a company.

According to the information provided by the company representative, the terms for registration of Cyrillic domain names, as well as the cost for registrars will not differ from the terms and costs applied for Latin domain names. Besides, it was pointed out that the registrars (companies that are authorised by "Hostmaster" to register domain names) themselves can set prices for final users.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Network Information Center had already applied for obtainment of the Cyrillic domain name ".óźš", however this application was suspended at the request of State Informatization Committee.

On May 27, 2010 the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Ratification of the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks”.

Ratification of the Protocol gives Kazakhstan a number of advantages, including simplification of the registration procedure and the ability to establish individual official charges, as well as the possibility of filing an application in one of three languages - German, English or Spanish. The Protocol was adopted on 27 June 1989.

The Armenian Parliament has recently approved the new Trademark Law, which becomes valid on July 1, 2010. The new Law replaces the previous Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of the year 2000.

The Law introduces a new definition of a trademark and broadens the list of signs that can be registered as trademarks by adding holograms and colors or combination of colors to the trademarks defined by the current legislation.

The new law also introduces protection for trademarks with reputation in Armenia (“well-known marks”) and measures against applications filed in bad faith.

One of the most important provision of the new Law is the opposition procedure, namaly all new trademark applications should to be published in the PTO’s Official Gazette for opposition purposes which means that any third party can file an opposition within two months from the publishing date.

According to the new Law a trademark license or an assignment agreement becomes effective with respect to third parties from the date of its registration with the PTO registry.

In Georgia there have been adopted the new Law “On Design” as well as amendments to the Law “On Patent”.

The amended law on “Patent” stipulates the following main issues:

• Item 5, Article 5 of the Law stipulates the possibility of extending the validity term of the national patent for an invention. Namely, "The term of the invention patent relating to a medical product, which introduction to the Georgian market requires the approbation from the corresponding authorities, at the request of the patent owner may be extended for the term from filing the application with the Georgian Patent Office till issuance of the approbation by the authorities, however this extension may not exceed 5 years. The request for extension should be filed within 1 year from the receipt of the authorities’ approbation."

• Importation Patent concept has been abolished by the Georgian legislation.

• Item 1, Article 71 of the Law stipulates the validity term of the utility model in Georgia being 10 years from the date of filing the utility model application with the Georgian Patent Office instead of the earlier stipulated 8 years.

Moreover, Item 2, Article 71 of the Law stipulates the possibility of simultaneous filing of both invention and utility model applications by the same applicant. The grant of the invention patent in this case will cause cancellation of the utility model patent. At the same time the refusal to grant the invention patent due to non-compliance thereof with novelty requirement will also result in cancellation of the utility model patent.

The new law on “Design” stipulates the following main issues:

• Item 3, Article 5 of the Law stipulates the validity term of the design in Georgia being 25 years from the date of filing the design application with the Georgian Patent Office instead of the earlier stipulated 15 years.

• Article 14 of the Law stipulates the substantive examination of design applications. The substantive examination of design application presupposes verification of the compliance thereof with the requirement of novelty and is to be conducted within 3 months after the formal examination.

• Article 22 of the Law also stipulates the possibility of accelerating the design application registration, provided that the corresponding official fee is paid.

Both the new Law on “Design” and the amended Law of “Patent” are to come into force on June 24, 2010. The statute of fees amended in accordance with the above-indicated changes of the Georgian patent legislation is to be adopted in the nearest time.

Our company has been named as “Intellectual Property Advisory Firm of the Year 2010 in Ukraine” by the Corporate Intl Magazine. This award recognizes the leading expert in the respective field and marks the leading legal team in chosen practice area globally.

The Global Award is based on the extensive research and thorough analysis of a number of companies, conducted by the experts of the Corporate Intl Magazine, as well as on the information amassed by the editorial team.

The main selection criteria for nominees for this prestigious position are capabilities, experience and expertise of the company. Moreover, during the survey the Corporate Intl Magazine brings into focus the notable work carried out over the past 12 months in the area, inventive structuring steps and expansion of the breadth of the services.

The aim of the magazine is to provide a unique insight into the business world for its readers and to help them find the best partners, offering the outstanding services and exceptional support.

We are delighted to have been chosen by one of the leading monthly titles for business leaders and professional advisers throughout the world and are honoured to receive this well-deserved award from it.

Estonia is undergoing changes in domain regulation, which will provide registration regulations for the top-level domain “.ee”. Domain reform is currently in its last stage.

One of the major innovations is that after the new regulations become effective, “.ee” domains may be registered by any local or foreign private and legal entity, and one registrant may register any number of domains.

The other important amendment relates to the terms and fees for domain registration. The registration time period of a domain is one year and will be extended upon request any number of times.

The procedure of registration of domain names will be as follows: the Estonian Internet Foundation will conclude an agreement with registrars (internet service providers) who, in their turn, will conclude service agreements with registrants (entities applying for and using the domain).

The annual fee paid by internet service provider to the Estonian Internet Foundation will be EEK 285. Whereas the fee paid by registrants to registrars according to service agreements will be set by registrars on the principles of free competition in the market.

The domain regulations were approved on 17 March, 2010 and published on the web site of the Foundation, www.eestiinternet.ee, but the actual implementation date has not been established yet. The Estonian Internet Foundation has announced that a 30 days advance notice will be given before the launch of new regulations, so that registrars and registrants can take appropriate measures as to reregistration of the current domains.

The 132nd INTA meeting took place in Boston, USA in May 22-26.

The team of professionals of our company was glad to meet our clients and colleagues and to discuss issues of mutual interest and share opinions concerning practices development and integration.

As usual the friendly atmosphere of INTA meeting was favourable for fruitful and beneficial interaction.

By tradition our company took part at the INTA exhibition introducing a new slogan “Performing IP”, as one of the leading concepts of our work. Like musicians turning silence in the live energy of music, our company performs the real art of IP turning the ideas of our clients into the precious achievement and allowing them to improve and to succeed.

It was a pleasure for us to receive all the visitors of our booth and we hope to meet them again at next IP related events.

On April 29, 2010 in Berne, Switzerland there was signed the Agreement on the protection of geographical indications and appellations of origin between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation.

The Agreement develops a framework for provision of adequate and effective legal protection of the Russian Geographical indications and appellations of origin in the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss geographical indications and appellations of origin in the Russian Federation.

The agreement is based on a balance of interests of the parties and stipulates rules and principles for ensuring safety and protection of geographical indications and appellations of origin. In accordance with the provisions of the Agreement, Russia and Switzerland offer a reciprocal effective protection of geographical indications and appellations of origin in accordance with their national legislation and also in accordance with international treaties in which they are contracting parties.

As the competent authorities of the parties responsible for implementing the Agreement identified are the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

On April 1, 2010 there was adopted the Resolution No. 492 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus "On some issues on plant variety testing on patentability (National Register of Legal Acts of the Republic of Belarus, 2010, No. 84, 5/31581) that approves the Regulations on variety testing on patentability. In accordance with the said Regulations there is determined the order of plant varieties testing on patentability. This Resolution came into force on the date of publication thereof, i.e. on April 13, 2010.

With the adoption of this Resolution the Regulations No. 347 on the state testing of plant varieties on patentability, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus on June 3, 1996, are to be considered expired.

The draft law on copyright has been developed in Belarus and submitted to the parliament.

The new law on copyright is the largest revision of legislation in this area in Belarus since 1996, as the practice of interaction between authors and users of authors' products has shown that Belarus needs to adopt a new legislation on copyright and related rights.

The draft law stipulates a range of new rights to an author that will give him the right to monitor the integrity of his work.

In particular, the draft law stipulates broadening the content of the exclusive rights that authors and designers have in respect of works of science, literature and art they create. In accordance with the draft law, an author has the exclusive right to use his product at his discretion in any form or by any means. At the same time, under the current law on copyright and related rights the list of property rights (for dissemination, distribution, rent and other rights) that belong to the authors is limited. The draft law solves this problem.

The draft law also introduces new rights in respect of computer programs, including the right to install and to run them. The inviolability right of copyrighted works is also to be introduced. This means that without the consent of the author no changes, reductions and additions are allowed to be introduced into his product. The author may oppose any distortion of his work or other derogatory act, which may impair his honor and dignity.

The new draft law stipulates the procedure of execution of the license agreement, agreement on the cession of rights, agreement on creation and use of intellectual property rights, the procedure of the author's compensation and other aspects.

On March 12, 2010, Latvia ratified the Patent Law Treaty, adopted in Geneva on June 1, 2000. The Treaty is dircted to harmonize and rationalize formal procedures set by national or regional patent offices for the filing and maintenance of patents.

The Treaty will enter into force, with respect to the Republic of Latvia, on June 12, 2010.

We are pleased to announce that from today we have an office also in Almaty city, Kazakhstan.

The availability of own office in Almaty opens a new level of services for our clients. We can offer direct filing of all kinds of applications in Kazakhstan. Closer cooperation with Kazakh patent attorneys makes it possible to avoid intermediation and results in saving time. First-hand guidance over the process of intellectual property rights registration and protection enables us to implement all the services as quickly as it is possible.

The head office has a complete control over the patenting procedure at all its stages and what is more important - over the meeting of deadlines.

Moreover, due to all these facts our prices have got more competitive and the whole procedure has become more cost-effective. Especially, it has had an impact on office action processing, renewals and annuities.

Thus, thanks to the close contact with Kazakh patent office we are able to solve even more complex tasks our clients set before us. We would be glad to provide you with our assistance in protection of intellectual property rights in Kazakhstan and to see you as our client.

As from April 1, 2010 domains, not documentary confirmed, may become disconnected. Those web-sites, whose owners have not undergone the identification procedure, will receive the unverified status.

Unverified domains will not be deleted from the registry automatically and sites located at these addresses will continue to work. However, the registrar has the right to disconnect the domains in its own discretion, as they will have the status of belonging to nobody. If the owners do not declare and confirm their rights to domains within two months, they will lose those rights.

New rules, under which the site owners are to undergo the identification procedure, were adopted in July 2009. As from October 1, 2009 domains ceased to be registered without documentary proof of administrators identity. Owners of web-sites that were registered prior to October, 2009 were to undergo this identification procedure by April 1, 2010.

Moreover, even in those cases when domains were identified and confirmed, the registrar at any time has the right to request the data again. With domains having a verified status for submission of documents the administrator will have 10 days, with domains having unverified status he will have 3 days. Reluctance to provide confirming documents may result in suspension of the domain delegation. Moreover, the suspension is also possible upon request issued by the law enforcement agencies.

Finally, to sale the domains administrators have to provide their data once again. This measure may help to improve the struggle against cybersquatters occupying domains with the aim of further sale off. On the other hand, some experts believe that disconnecting the domains without the necessity of obtainment the corresponding court decision significantly rises the risk of Internet-raiding.

It is worth mentioning that representatives of the co-ordination centre had intention to clean up the Internet by introducing new tough rules a year ago. However, initially they concerned RF zone, while appeared to be applicable to RU zone as well.

On April 15, 2010 Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks.

The Singapore treaty adopted in Singapore on March 27, 2006 establishes common, international standards for administrative trademark registration procedures.

The Singapore Treaty allows to neutralize weaknesses of existing variety of national and regional trademark registration procedures, harmonizing and simplifying their procedural rules. Moreover, it covers only the formal requirements of procedural and allied rights and obligations of the state and the applicant.

The ratification of the Treaty allows full-fledged functioning of the state system of intellectual property protection on the level of developed countries and strengthens the diplomatic positions of Ukraine.

The Treaty provides simplification of formalities in the procedure of obtaining rights for trademarks, including the improvement of technology in the field of information transmission by electronic means of communication.

The Treaty will enter into force with respect to Ukraine on May 24, 2010.

According to Azerbaijan trademark legislation if a decision of acceptance of the trademark for registration is issued the applicant should pay the official fee for registration of the trademark within 2 months from the date of this decision.

The new amendment to the trademark legislation stipulates that now the applicant has the right to extend this term of payment of the official fee for trademark registration for 4 additional months by filing the corresponding request and paying the additional fee in the stipulated amount.

The Republic of Belarus has introduced amendments into the tax law since the begining of this year upon introduction of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On implementation of the Special Part of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus, on amendments to the General Part of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus and on invalidation of some legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus and their particular provisions on taxation”. After introduction of the Special Part of the Code a number of legal acts which earlier were in force in the territory of the Republic of Belarus became invalid. At present the procedure of national and local taxation (taxpayers, subject of taxation, the tax base, tax rates, the lists of tax benefits, as well as the calculation procedure, the terms of payment thereof and submission of tax declarations, special tax regimes) is stipulated by the Special Part of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus.

The Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus is now a major legislative act that stipulates the procedure of calculation and payment of taxes and duties in the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

On February 24, 2010 the President of the Russian Federation signed the law eliminating the contradiction concerning registration of agreements on disposal of the exclusive trademark right.

The Federal Law “On acknowledging expired Item 2, Article 1490 of the Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” was adopted by the State Duma on February 12, 2010 and approved by the Federation Council on February 17, 2010.

The Law is aimed at eliminating the contradiction between Item 2, Article 1490 and Item 2, Article 1232 Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, differently defining state agency that regulates the procedure of registration of agreements on disposal of the exclusive trademark right.

In accordance with Item 2, Article 1490 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation such a procedure is established by the federal executive authority performing normative and legal regulation in the field of intellectual property, while in accordance with Item 2, Article 1232 such a procedure is established by the Government of the Russian Federation. In connection with this the Federal law stipulates acknowledgement of expiration of the provision of Item 2, Article 1490 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, the procedure of the registration of agreements on disposal of the exclusive rights relating to results of intellectual activity and means of individualization has been related only to the competence of the Government of the Russian Federation.

As from the beginning of January 2010 the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic "On patent" has come into force. The amended law stipulates the following issues:

• Item 3, Article 10 of the Law stipulates the possibility of extending the validity term of the national patent for an invention. Namely, "If the object of a patent for an invention relates to a product or a method of manufacturing a product that is subject to administrative processing in accordance with the legislation, at the request of the patent owner patent protection may be extended for five years. The request for extension should be filed within the period of a patent validity."

• Item 3, Article 38 stipulates the possibility of reinstatement of the national patent for an invention that lapsed due to non-payment of annuity for maintaining thereof in force. Namely, "The patent owner who has not paid the prescribed annuity for maintaining the validity of the patent for an invention, utility model and industrial design in time, has the right to reinstate the patent validity within 5 years from the expiration date by paying the corresponding state fee. Enclosed to the request of the patent owner should be a copy of the document confirming payment of the outstanding annuities.

In accordance with the rule 16, Item 5 and rule 39, Item 1 of the Patent Regulations under the Eurasian Patent Convention, these norms can be applied to the Eurasian patent.

The Federation Council of the Russian Federation approved the law on increase of terms associated with the examination of a trademark application. The corresponding amendments are introduced into Article 15.01 of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In view of the adoption of the Federal Law "On ratification of the Singapore Treaty on Trademark Laws" the term for filing a request for restoration of the missed term to dispute the decision of the federal executive authority on intellectual property about the registration of a trademark is increased from two to six months.

As of February 10, 2010 the Tajik government has introduced amendments to the statute of fees. According to these amendments some of the compulsory as well as some of the procedural payments for patents, petty patens and designs have slightly increased. Specifically, increased have been the official fees for filing and registration as well as for payment of annuities, patent reistatement and for filing request for term extension for responding to office actions.

On the contrary, some of the compulsory and procedural payments associates with a trademark registration in Tajikistan have been slightly reduced in accordance with the adopted to the statute of fees amendments. Thus, reduced have been the official fees for filing and examination of a trademark application, official fees in respect of reinstatements of various terms missed by the applicant, as well as the fees for registration and renewal of a certificate.

The Patent Office of the Azerbaijan Republic has prepared the Decree on introduction of amendments to the Patent Law of the Azerbaijan Republic, which is now under consideration in the Cabinet of Ministers. The main amendment relates to the possibility of extension of validity term of a patent for industrial design for additional 5 years. In this respect the amendments will also be introduced to the official fees related to the mentioned procedure of extension. The Decree is not expected to come into effect until summer 2010.

The Patent Office of Uzbekistan has introduced the amendment to the procedure for prosecution of national trademark applications. In Uzbekistan, responses to office actions must be filed within three months from the mailing date of the office actions. Since December 2009 the period of extension of term for filing the response have been shortened from six months to three months. The official fee for an extension is 84 USD per each month.

The Law of the Republic of Belarus of January 4, 2010 "On introducing amendments and supplements to some laws of the Republic of Belarus concerning implementation of administrative procedures" (hereinafter - the Law) is to become valid on February 5, 2010. Said Law introduces amendments and supplements to the laws of the Republic of Belarus of April 13, 1995 "On Plant Varieties Patents ", of December 7, 1998 "On legal protection of topographies of integrated circuits" and of July 17, 2002 "On the Geographical Indications."

The law stipulates the following issues:
• requirements in regard to documents on a variety patent application, topography application, an application for registration and the right to use the appellation of origin (hereinafter - application) are determined by the Government of the Republic of Belarus;
• if the application documents are executed not in accordance with the set standards, the applicant will be invited to submit properly executed documents within two months from the date of receipt of the corresponding Notification from the Patent Office. At the applicant’s request this term may be extended, but not more than for twelve months, provided that the request for extension is received before the expiration of that term. If the applicant does not provide the requested materials or a request to extend the deadline within the specified term, there is issued the decision on refusal to grant a plant variety patent, a topology certificate, on refusal to register the appellation of origin and the right to use it or on refusal to grant the right to use already registered appellation of origin, and the applicant shall be notified about that;
• a preliminary examination of an application for a variety patent and an application for registration and the right to use the appellation of origin should be carried out within three months from the application filing date;
• the term, the applicant has to appeal the decision of the patent authority in the Board of Appeals under the patent authority, has been increased from three months to one year. The decision on appeal shall be taken within one month from the date of receipt thereof.

Within three months from the date the Law enters into force, the Belarus Government resolutions, as well as normative and legal acts of the republican authorities of state administration subordinate to the Government should be adjusted in compliance with the Law.

In order to implement the provisions of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 15, 2009 "On Amendments and Supplements to the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Trademarks and Service Marks" (hereinafter - the Law) on December 28, 2009 the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus adopted the Resolution ¹ 1719 "On Approval of Regulations on the registration of a trademark and a service mark and on introducing amendments into certain resolutions issued by the Belarus Council of Ministers".

The Regulations on registration of a trademark and a service mark represent a complex document that is aimed at regulating such issues as compilation, filing and examination of an application for a trademark and service mark, the recordal of data on trademark registration into the State Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Republic of Belarus, amendments, renewals and termination of a trademark registration. So during their development there were systematized the procedural norms of the official normative legal acts, procedure of compiling and filing a trademark and a service mark application, procedure of prosecuting a trademark and a service mark application and procedure for examining a trademark and service mark application that were subject to abolishment from January 25, 2010. The Regulations also contain a section determining the procedure of the recordal of data on trademark registration into the State Register, amendments, renewal of the registration term and termination of a trademark legal protection.

In addition, the Regulations on the registration of a trademark and a service mark further include the norms defining the procedure for familiarization with the application materials and the procedure of transforming a collective mark or an application for registration thereof into a trademark of one of the persons entitled to use it in accordance with the regulations on a collective mark or into an application for registration thereof.

Due to the fact that the Law abolished the recordal of assignment on a trademark, trademark pledge and license agreements, the corresponding changes have been introduced into the Resolution ¹ 1642 of the Council of Ministers of November 30, 2007 "On Approval of the list of administrative procedures implemented by the State Committee on Science and Technology and the subordinate state organisations in respect of legal persons and individual entrepreneurs" and into the Resolution ¹ 346 of March 21, 2009 "On registration of license agreements, assignments, pledge agreements on industrial property objects and of complex business license (franchise)". Recordal of a trademark or a service mark assignment, amendments in the assignment deed or termination thereof will be carried out in accordance with the procedure prescribed for introducing amendments into trademark registration.

The Resolution also authorizes the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus to approve forms of documents required for filing and prosecution of a trademark and a service mark application, amending, renewing and terminating a trademark registration.

Resolution ¹ 1719 of the Belarus Council of Ministers of December 28, 2009 "On Approval of Regulations on the registration of a trademark and service mark and on introducing amendments into certain resolutions issued by the Belarus Council of Ministers" will become valid simultaneously with the Law, i.e. on January 25, 2010.

"RF" is the first top-level domain allowing to place web sites on domain names, recorded solely in characters of the Russian language.

Until November 25, 2009 there took place the reservation of a limited list of domain names for state authorities, federal executive bodies and executive authorities of the Russian Federation entities.

As from November 25, 2009, there also started the stage of priority registration, so that the first address domain "RF" could be obtained by the owners of famous trademarks in order to avoid fraud associated with the sale of addresses, using well-known names or brands.

Many domain names in the first Cyrillic zone "RF" formed the queues of applicants - trademark owners. For some of the names there are making a play 5 applicants, however the right to a domain under the existing rules is awarded to the applicant, who was the first to file an application.

At present for the trademark owners there have been reserved more than 5 thousands of domain names. This means that 35 percent of more than 8 thousands of applications in total have been rejected due to various reasons. In the majority of cases refusals are received by those trademark owners who have filed applications for domain names not fully reproducing trademarks, and by owners of trademarks containing Latin letters which contravenes the requirements of an application for the "RF" domain. Some companies have also received refusals for reservation of domain names, intended for state needs. Thus, Philip Morris, the company-manufacturer of cigarettes, was unable to secure for itself a domain name parlament.rf.

As the practice shows, it is difficult to avoid conflict situations in the process of obtaining the names in the first Cyrillic zone. Within a day after the launch of addresses reservation in the "RF" zone, the fact that in the first Cyrillic addresses there appeared such remarkable words as kino.rf (cinema), bank.rf, mama.rf, molodost.rf (yourth), nadezhda.rf (hope) and schaste.rf (happiness) caused widespread dissatisfaction of the public opinion suspecting cybersquatters intrusion into "RF" zone. Then there were issued the refusals on Cyrillic domains reservation for such popular projects as "Odnoklassniki" (russian network similar to facebook) and Mail.ru (popular mailing service), as their trademarks contain Latin characters that contradicts the rules of registration. The above made experts think about improvement of the Regulations on registration.

The Coordination Center reminds that from November, 25 to March, 25 there takes the stage of domain names reservation for state needs and for trademark owners. The ability to write the names of web-sites in Russian was to secure governmental authorities and trademark owners from cybersquatters - fraudsters reselling popular domain names. Open registration for everyone begins on July 2010.

On December 22, 2009 the Belarus Council of Ministers adopted the Resolution ¹ 1679 "On Approval of Regulations on the procedure of filing appeals, objections, requests and their consideration by the Board of Appeal under the patent authority".

The adoption of this resolution has been stipulated by the necessity to implement the provisions of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 15, 2009 "On Amendments and Supplements to the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Trademarks and Service Marks" (hereinafter - the Law).

The Regulations on the procedure of filing appeals, objections, requests and their consideration by the Board of Appeal under the patent authority (hereinafter - Regulations) have been developed based on existing law enforcement practice of pre-trial examination of disputes by the Board of Appeal under the patent authority and is aimed at its improvement.

The Regulations determine the list of appeals, objections and requests, procedure, terms of submission and consideration thereof by the Board of Appeal under the patent authority (hereinafter - the Board of Appeal) and contain a number of changes:
• as to the necessity of submitting a search report, conducted by the patent authority, together with the previously stipulated documents for the objection in respect of grant of a utility model patent;
• as to appeals that may be filed within one year from the date of receipt by the applicant of the decision of the patent authority or from the date of receipt by the applicant of the requested from the patent authority copies of the materials opposed to the application (earlier this term was 3 months);
• as to stipulation of the possibility to restore missed by the applicant deadlines for filing appeals;
• as to term reduction of consideration of appeals from 4 to 1 month. Within 1 month from the date of receipt by the Board of Appeal there also should be considered an appeal against the decision of preliminary examination on refusal to accept an application for a plant variety patent for consideration. Other objections, as well as all requests are to be considered within six months;
• as to introduction of the concept of abandonment of appeal, objection or request if their consideration is not within the competence of the Board of Appeal, if they are filed by unauthorized person or after the expiration of deadline, or do not contain a request for reinstatement of the missed term, as well as, if not all necessary documents are submitted. In case of abandonment of appeal, objection or request the documents submitted together with the appeal, objection or request are returned to the applicant. Appeal, objection or request can be filed again after elimination of the deficiencies that caused the abandonment of the appeal, objection or request;
• as to stipulation that the decision of the Board of Appeal on appeals and on objection against the decision of the preliminary examination on refusal to accept an application for a plant variety patent for consideration enters into force upon its adoption;
• as to stipulation that the decision of the Board of Appeal on the remaining objections and all requests enters into force after expiration of time for appealing thereof in accordance with the procedure established by the law.

The above Resolution of the Council of Ministers will become valid simultaneously with the Law of January 25, 2010.