On 20 May, Russia President Vladimir Putin issued Decree No 430 “On the temporary procedure for acquiring exclusive rights of certain IP holders and fulfilling monetary obligations to certain foreign creditors and entities controlled by them”.

Decree 430 is available on the Russian government’s website here. The following analysis is based on a machine translation.

The Decree supplements previously announced measures by establishing a temporary procedure concerning the acquisition of IP rights by Russian entities from rights holders in “unfriendly” jurisdictions.

It essentially imposes government control over any new contracts to acquire overseas IP rights by Russian entities as well as for payments under existing agreements.

“Unfriendly” states are any states that “commit unfriendly actions” against Russia. In practice, this includes all countries that have sanctions in place.

Rights holders are defined as people in unfriendly states “who have transferred or are obliged to transfer their exclusive rights to the results of intellectual activity or to means of individualisation to acquirers under agreements providing for the alienation of such rights”.

The decree provides that all payments must be transferred to special types of bank account (known as type O accounts). These accounts require government approval for withdrawals.

The decree does not apply to transactions “involving the acquisition of exclusive rights to works of science, literature and art, to the results of performing activities (performance), to phonograms, to messages from broadcasting or cable broadcasting organizations” or to transactions under R15 million (€165,000; $175,000).

The decree complements Decree 322 of 27 May 2022 on royalty payments due to rights holders in unfriendly nations.

The MARQUES Russia Task Force continues to monitor IP developments arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and will provide further updates where relevant. If you have any questions, please contact the Chair of the Task Force Tobias Cohen Jehoram.