Intellectual property is a driver of the country's technological development

Maria Porokhnya, Director of Intellectual Property at PROMOMED, spoke at the forum "Strong Ideas for a New Age". During the session "Law as a Force: from civil Initiatives to systemic changes," the expert presented a view on intellectual property as a key legal instrument capable of stimulating innovative and technological development in Russia.

The speaker spoke about the increased attention of large businesses to the development of internal expertise in intellectual property management, the willingness of companies to share this expertise with small and medium-sized businesses, to support infrastructure initiatives and specialized startups at the early development stage, helping to form an effective strategy for the protection of intellectual property. As an example, Maria Porokhnya cited the experience of PROMOMED, which provides free consultations for residents of the Moscow Innovation Cluster, being its industry business partner.

The expert also stressed that patenting should not be considered as a tool for protecting only breakthrough technical solutions. Participating in global scientific and technological progress requires simultaneously creating your own innovations and contributing to the development of existing solutions, including those introduced by competitors. As an example of a way to commercialize such a contribution to existing solutions, Maria Porokhnya cited the mechanism of compulsory licensing provided for in art.1362 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

This article provides for the possibility to obtain a license not only in cases of shortage, but also in the case of significant refinement of someone else's invention. The improved solution should be an important technical achievement with significant economic advantages. The speaker stressed that the development of the practice of issuing compulsory licenses in cases of refinement of someone else's invention will only strengthen the implementation of the function of patent law as a driver of technological development.

At the same time, it is important that large companies use the blocking function of exclusive rights in good faith. There are many cases in judicial practice where patent holders have abused it and used their patents to illegally monopolize, block competitors, and restrict access to technology at all costs. Law enforcement practice is actively developing, according to which the courts prevent this by using the general principle of fair exercise of civil rights provided for in art. 10 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The possibility of curbing abuse of law is of particular importance in strategic industries, including pharmaceuticals, where the interests of society and patients should remain a priority.

In conclusion, Maria Porokhnya suggested relying on the experience of the pharmaceutical industry in developing solutions for fine-tuning legislation in the field of intellectual property, since it is pharma that uses and develops the enforcement of this tool as actively as possible.