On rush (last day) filings, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section below.

General Procedure

The PCT process comprises two major phases referred to as the "international" and "national" phases.

 

The international phase begins with filing a PCT application with the patent office of an applicant's home country. This filing allows the applicant eventually to obtain a patent in any member country of the PCT, including Russia. During this phase, the PCT application is subject to an international search procedure, performed by one of the International Searching Authorities, resulting in a Search Report and Written Opinion being provided to the applicant. These documents contain a preliminary evaluation of the patentability of the invention. At this point, the applicant can amend the application to modify the scope of its claims, if necessary.

 

If the applicant decides to continue with the application, it is possible to proceed to the second phase (i.e., "the national phase") of the PCT process immediately by filing the application with the chosen national patent offices.

 

In Russian Federation, the application must be filed with the national patent office within a 31-month period after the priority date (or after the initial filing date, if there is no priority).

 

Prior to filing the PCT application with the Russian Patent Office, the applicant is required to prepare a set of the following documents:

 

• Patent application, including Description, Examples, and Claims sections (in Russian)
• Figures and amino acid sequence listings (in Russian, if any)
• Substantive examination request
• Request to grant a patent
• Confirmation of the state fee payment
• Executed Power of Attorney

 

The examination procedure consists of two consecutive stages, i.e., formal and substantive examination.

 

During the formal examination, the PCT application is checked for meeting certain formal requirements, such as overall text structure and consistency of its claims. At this stage, the applicant may be suggested to make certain amendments or provide additional documents to the Russian Patent Office. Formal examination usually takes up to 6 months and, if successful, results in the application passing to the substantive examination stage.

 

During the substantive examination, all sections of the PCT application undergo thorough analysis and review. The Russian Patent Office always issues at least 1 office action for each PCT application at this stage to clarify certain application-related matters or receive additional information from the applicant. In some particular cases (such as overcomplicated claims or extraordinary complexity of the application), there may be 2 or even 3 office actions issued. Substantive examination usually takes 6-18 months and, if successful, results in a patent grant.

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Cost

Filing a PCT application in Russian Federation requires payment of certain professional and state fees, depending on several factors, such as the total number of claims, the number of independent claims, etc. Also, several additional state fees may become necessary at some point in the examination procedure. Please note, that the state fees are to be paid in Russian Roubles only. The corresponding USD amounts are shown for the reader’s comfort only and may vary slightly, depending on the actual exchange rates on the date the payment is made.

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Service	Professional fee (USD)	State fee (USD)
Filing a patent application under the PCT procedure in Russia (with a substantive examination request)	$1100	$27 + $4/claim over 25 claims + $4 for each part of the application not subject to international patent search or international preliminary examination
Substantive examination of a patent application filed under the PCT procedure in Russia		$41 + $32 per each independent claim over 1 (but ≤10) + $56 per each independent claim over 10
Transferring an existing patent application to Ruspatents LLC and filing a correspondence address change claim with the RPO	$200
Scanning and forwarding copies of mail correspondence	free
Fixing a multiple claim dependency	Please inquire (usually up to $500 depending on the text volume and complexity)
Reviewing draft responses to office actions composed by the applicant and filing thereof with the RPO	Please inquire (usually up to $1000 depending on the text volume and complexity)
Composing responses to office actions made by attorney and filing thereof with the RPO	$150/hour
Filing additional documents with the RPO (translations, priority copies, claims, etc.)	$200
Patent registration and obtaining patent certificate from the RPO	$200	$54
Annual prolongation of a patent	$200	3rd year - $14 4th year - $14 5th year - $21 6th year - $21 7th year - $27 8th year - $27 9th year - $41 10th year - $41 11th year - $61 12th year - $61 13th year - $81 14th year - $81	15th year - $101 16th year - $101 17th year - $101 18th year - $101 19th year - $135 20th year - $135 21st year - $200 22nd year - $200 23rd year - $200 24th year - $200 25th year - $200
Handling state fee payments (if done on the client’s behalf)	$25

 

For a full list of state and professional fees, please refer to our Schedule of Fees or contact us to receive an accurate estimation for your particular case.

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​Frequently Asked Questions

- There is only 1 day left to file my PCT application in Russia, and I have no Russian translation. Is it possible to file it, anyway? - Yes, it is absolutely possible to file an English copy of your application on the last day of your 31-month period and provide a Russian translation within a 2-month period after the filing, though it will require payment of additional state fees. Please contact us to discuss your case in more detail.

 

- Can I file my PCT application with the Russian Patent Office myself? Do I need a Russian patent attorney? - According to the Part IV of the Russian Civil Code (which covers IP legislation, thus effectively serving as the Russian Patent Law), foreign applicants must have a licensed Russian patent attorney to conduct any correspondence with the Russian Patent Office, including filing patent applications, responding to office actions, etc.

 

- How do I pay state fees? - All state fees are to be paid in Russian Roubles only. We usually handle these payments ourselves and inform our clients of any state fees that are due or may become necessary in future.