Delegation of Rospatent, headed by its Deputy Head Ms. Viktoria Galkovskaya, represented the Russian Federation at the 34th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on the Law of Patents held in Geneva (Switzerland) on 26-30 September 2022.

Key issues of the session comprised the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the examination of patent applications and the legal personality of AI, that is patentability of inventions using AI and by AI.

The Russian delegation highlighted that Rospatent pays special attention to the patentability of IT-related inventions. The IP Office has established a specialized working group to address methodological issues involving relevant experts.

Under the agenda item on patents and health, the delegation of the Russian Federation emphasized the crucial importance of databases in the context of access to information on patented medicines, including the need for up-to-date information on patented pharmaceutical drugs against COVID-19.

Upon the initiative of the Russian Federation and the other Member States, WIPO will prepare a document compiling information relating to the expedited examination programs of IP offices, including information on prioritized examination of COVID-19-related patent applications.

Furthermore, the delegation proposed to study the possibility of introducing the disclosure requirement related to international nonproprietary names (INN) in patent literature to use INN as an information search filter.

The session participants also exchanged information concerning recent developments in national patent law legislation, discussed the efforts of IP Offices to improve the quality of patents and expedited patent examination mechanisms at IP offices.

On 29 September, the delegation of Rospatent also attended the launch of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022. Annually published by WIPO, the GII provides an analysis of the most recent innovation global trends, ranking the innovation performance of around 132 economies. This year, the document focuses on the innovation trends against the background of an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, slowing productivity growth and other evolving challenges. The Russian Federation ranks 47th in the GII 2022.