Green Light for Parallel Import
New government mandate aligns with Institute proposals
The Russian government has instructed the Federal Antimonopoly Service to implement in Russia the international principle of exhaustion of intellectual property rights. By October 10th, the authority, together with other executive authorities, should submit proposals on amendments to legislation across several facets:
- improvement of antitrust regulation in the circumstances of digital economy development;
- extension of antitrust rules and requirements to IP related output;
- introduction on the territory of the Russian Federation of the international principle of the exhaustion of intellectual property rights and equivalent means of individualization.
The Institute, together with the FAS, has long pointed out the need to introduce this international principle of exhaustion of IP rights. The first research project the Institute undertook concerning the regime of exhaustion of rights in the innovative sectors was set forth in 2013. The joint conference with the FAS “Intellectual property and innovation in a globalised world: How to level the playing field", took place in April 2014. And, with the participation of the Institute, FAS has developed the revolutionary Fifth Antimonopoly Package, dedicated to antitrust regulation in the digital arena.
Last week, the head of the FAS, Igor Artemyev, speaking at a meeting of the government of the Russian Federation, spoke about the change to the structure of markets in the digital economy. In the 2017 status of competition report, the authority stated that with the help of digital technologies, foreign companies monopolise markets and cartel collusion can be established using digital algorithms.
"Traditional instruments of countermeasures to monopolisation do not work in the 'digital' markets. Together with all interested authorities, we should implement the 'Fifth Antimonopoly Package' as soon as possible, which can govern the application of domestic competition law in the context of digitalisation, as well as in the field of intellectual property," Artemyev added. Reference material: D-Russia.