The number of registrations of rights to software and databases with Rospatent increased in 2023

The number of programs registered with Rospatent in 2023 increased by almost a quarter, and databases – by almost 40%. Registration of rights to these types of intellectual property is growing more dynamically than to inventions and industrial designs. The developers are guided by the need to register the pledge with Rospatent and the desire to facilitate entry into the register of Russian software. But a Rospatent certificate is not needed to be included in the register, and there is no mechanism for automatically protecting software creators from plagiarism.

Rospatent registered 31.9 thousand computer programs and 5.2 thousand databases (DBs) in 2023, according to calculations by the Online Patent company based on official data from the department. This is 23.3% and 38.8% more than in 2022, respectively. In 2022, the indicators also grew relative to 2021, but not as actively: from 22.1 thousand to 25.9 thousand registered software rights and from 3.3 thousand to 3.7 thousand database rights.

The Department of Information Technologies and Communications, subordinate to the Committee on Information and Communications of St. Petersburg, received the most certificates of registration in 2023, as specified in Online Patent. During the year, it registered 503 programs and 270 databases. In the case of software, according to SPARK-Interfax, we are talking about components of the Safe City systems and other city monitoring and document management systems.

The next on the list of organizations that most actively registered rights to software are TK Center (the largest distributor of lottery tickets, the Stoloto brand) with 440 certificates and JSC Russian Railways with 273 certificates.

The databases, in addition to the authorities of St. Petersburg, were most actively registered by universities: RANEPA, HSE, Sechenov Institute and others.

The number of patents issued during 2023 remained virtually at the level of 2022 – 30.1 thousand against 30.4 thousand to 30.1 thousand for inventions and utility models. The number of patents for industrial designs decreased by 5.5%, to 5.2 thousand. General Director of Online Patent Alina Akinshina calls this dynamics “a change within the margin of error.” Rospatent did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

The growth in registration of rights may be associated with companies’ plans to include products in registers of Russian software and databases, believes Ekaterina Abashina, lawyer for the Moscow CCA “DBA and Partners”: “Registration is not a prerequisite for inclusion in the register, but it makes it easier to confirm the ownership of rights to a specific face.” As a general rule, registration allows you to put developments on the company’s balance sheet as an asset, and in the case of a database, to sell the rights to use them.

According to the head of the legal committee of ARPP Domestic Software, Daria Shakhverdova, the indicators were also influenced by the mandatory state registration of a pledge of exclusive rights for registered computer programs and databases. This rule is effective from June 29, 2023. Rights are often issued in the case of custom development. This, in particular, “makes it possible to fulfill accounting requirements if development is carried out for capital investments,” clarifies Director of the NCC ISU Kirill Semion.

Director of Marketing and Communications of the Raketa platform Daria Zubritskaya agrees that “when registering with Rospatent, most developers were guided by the possibility of simplifying their entry into the register.” But Konstantin Kokurin, director of legal affairs at MyOffice, emphasizes that the procedure requires “other documents – for example, agreements on the alienation of an exclusive right or orders on the start and completion of development.”

But obtaining a certificate helps in the process of participating in procurement: “Many clients request such certificates as confirmation of the exclusive right to the software from the copyright holder.”

Registration of rights to software does not guarantee protection against plagiarism, notes Anton Yakovlev, an expert at the Kontur.Focus service. But it’s not useless, the expert clarifies: the priority of the first date of filing an application makes it possible to provide copyright holders with evidence in case of a dispute.

Yuri Litvinenko