8/24/22, 12:20 AM How Russia is using intellectual property as a war tactic • City, University of London

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News article

How Russia is using intellectual property as a war

tactic

The City Law School’s Dr Enrico Bonadio and Nottingham University’s Dr

Alina Trapova explain how Russia is weaponising patents, utility models
and industrial designs.

By City Press Office (City Press Office), Published Monday, 21st March 2022

By Dr Enrico Bonadio and Dr Alina Trapova

(Republished from The Conversation)

As part of its deadly assault on

Ukraine, Russia has taken the
rare step to use intellectual
property rights as a war tactic.
In early March, the Russian
government issued a decree
saying that Russian companies
are no longer obliged to compensate owners of patents, utility
models and industrial designs from “unfriendly” countries. These are
the western states who have issued sanctions against Russia,
including the UK and US.

This means that Russian businesses can use intellectual property,

such as patented inventions or fashion designs, without having to pay
or seek the consent of the rights holders Affected companies cannot
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8/24/22, 12:20 AM How Russia is using intellectual property as a war tactic • City, University of London
or seek the consent of the rights holders. Affected companies cannot
enforce their patents and designs against Russian imitators.

This effectively legalises intellectual piracy in a country already

known for failing to adequately protect intangible assets. Last
year, Russia was added to a US government “priority watch list” of
countries which do not sufficiently protect US intellectual properties.

Vladimir Putin’s move is clearly a reaction to the west’s economic

sanctions and suspension of
Russia’s trade privileges. It is
also an answer to many
multinational companies’
decisions to cease doing
business with Russian
companies.

Sanctions and boycotts have

massively affected the Russian
economy to the extent that the country is now on the verge of
bankruptcy with interest rates having doubled. The stock market has
remained closed for weeks and the rouble has fallen dramatically.

Unprecedented attack on intellectual property

The suspension of intellectual property rights as an economic
weapon in the context of a conflict is unprecedented, at least in
recent decades. Historical examples date back to the first world war,
when the US introduced the Trading With the Enemy Act. This act
seized copyright and patents owned by enemy countries, including
the patent to aspirin, famously a German invention.

Following the war, the Aspirin trademark owned by the German

pharmaceutical company Bayer was given up to the US, France, UK
and Russia, as part of Germany’s war reparations agreed in the
Treaty of Versailles.

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8/24/22, 12:20 AM How Russia is using intellectual property as a war tactic • City, University of London

Russian officials have hinted that other intellectual property rights

owned by western countries may be soon restricted, including

software and trademarks. This could allow local entrepreneurs to

appropriate and exploit – without permission and for free – brands
such as McDonald’s. One Russian restaurant chain has even recently
adopted, and applied to register locally, a logo very similar to the
famous golden arches.

The sanctions have also led a Russian judge to dismiss a copyright

and trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the British company
that produces animated series Peppa Pig. Andrei Slavinsky said in
court that the “unfriendly actions of the United States of America and
affiliated foreign countries” influenced his decision.

Ukraine, for its part, has not been inactive in this intellectual property
battle. Its ministry of defence recently hacked and leaked
confidential documents it claimed to have taken from a Russian
nuclear power station.

Does it violate international law?

Russia’s suspension of patents and other intellectual property rights
owned by western companies may violate international treaties
which protect these assets at global level. All countries of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) need to respect these laws and guarantee
that foreign businesses can enforce intellectual property rights
against imitators.

Countries damaged by the Russian measure may bring Russia to a

WTO court and ask for additional sanctions to be imposed. This
would again hit Russian businesses, especially those which rely on
brands and patented technology, as well as the creative industry
sector.

The only way Russia could justify the measure would be to rely on
a security exception made available by the WTO itself. This
exception allows countries to take any action they consider necessary
to protect their essential security interests in times of war. But it has
never been invoked by any state in the context of an armed conflict
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8/24/22, 12:20 AM How Russia is using intellectual property as a war tactic • City, University of London
never been invoked by any state in the context of an armed conflict,
and therefore never tested before the WTO judges.

If Russia is expelled from the WTO club, as has been proposed, that

would, paradoxically, insulate it from global intellectual property
challenges. No country would be able to bring Russia before a court
of an organisation it is no longer a member of.

These are predictions of what could happen if the war continues. It

goes without saying that a prompt end to the conflict may instead
relax the tension between the west and Russia, and put an end to the
current intellectual property battle.

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