After examining the objection materials, we identified several inconsistencies in the submitted documents. First, the drawings in the technical documentation submitted by the competitor were made using software that did not exist at the date of this documentation. In addition, the documents contained the marks of the center of standardization and metrology, which were never affixed by this center, as it officially confirmed to us.

However, despite clear evidence of the unreliability of the materials underlying the objection, the Chamber for Patent Disputes denied our arguments. It declared the patent invalid, justifying this by the fact that verification of document falsification is not within the competence of Rospatent.

Strategy

Background

As the owner of a patent for an electrochemical corrosion protection product in demand on the market, our client was attacked by a competitor who wanted to revoke the patent.

Objecting to the patent grant, the competitor alleged that the client’s technical solution was not new. He argued that he openly used a device identical to the patented one before the application filing date by ordering the manufacture of this device at a third-party plant and then supplying it to other companies.

We disagreed with this decision and appealed against it in the Court for IP Rights, where we immediately asserted falsification. As a result, the court sided with us. It recognized that invalidating the patent was based on our client’s competitor’s false documents and ordered the Russian PTO to review the objection.

Upon reconsideration of the cancellation action in the Chamber for Patent Disputes, the patent was recognized in force.

Practice

Result

We managed to protect the patent from illegal encroachment and retain our client’s monopoly on the commercial exploitation of the product in demand in the oil industry.

Restoration of Protection of Illegally Invalidated Patent

Anti-corrosion products’ manufacturer (Russia)

Client