Does the prohibition to provide legal consulting services to legal persons, entities or bodies established in Russia, laid down in Council Regulation 1904/2022 (6 October 2022), amending Regulation (EU) 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine (hereinafter – the Regulation), apply to the activities of professional patent attorneys?
Please be advised that according to the guidance provided by the European Commission, the Regulation’s prohibition to provide legal consulting services to legal persons, entities or bodies established in Russia does not apply to services that are extremely necessary to ensure the access to judicial proceedings, as well as administrative proceedings such as those initiated or pending before the EUIPO, EPO or Member States’ intellectual property offices.
Therefore, it is allowed to provide such services as filing and processing of applications for registration of trademarks, designs, and patents; changes in the register, including change of an owner, owner’s address, or name; registration of license agreements; registration of merger agreements; registration of commercial pledges; renewal of patents, trademarks, and designs (maintenance of rights); ensuring of the right of defence in judicial proceedings.
At the same time, please note that service providers in the field of industrial property protection should evaluate each case individually and take care that the services they provide to the Russian government and legal persons, entities or bodies registered in Russia do not to include any legal advice that could be considered as the circumvention of EU sanctions.
The European Commission's guidance on the most frequently asked questions about the implementation of the Regulation in the field of intellectual property can be found here https://finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-03/faqs-sanctions-russia-ipr_en_1.pdf)