Law Messenger
New Russian Civil Code provisions regarding compensation for infringements of intellectual property rights
26.08.2025
Federal Law No. 214-FZ “On Amendments to Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” (“the Law”), which was published on 7 July 2025, transforms the system of compensation for infringements of intellectual property rights.
The changes cover all types of intellectual property except selective breeding results, integrated circuit topographies, know-how, trade names and commercial designations, for which the recovery of compensation is still not provided for.
The Law is designed to improve the regulatory framework and bring civil legislation into line with rulings of the Constitutional Court, which has repeatedly found the provisions of the Russian Civil Code regarding liability for infringements of intellectual property rights to be inconsistent with the Russian Constitution.
The amendments in question come into force on 4 January 2026.
Below is an overview of the key changes made by the Law.
Overview of the key changes
The Law inserts a new Article 1252.1 in the Russian Civil Code, which enshrines in law the following established approaches to the determination of the amount of compensation1:
- If one counterfeit tangible medium contains multiple intellectual property items, it will be classified as a single infringement. The amount of compensation due for the infringement will be determined according to a special procedure (see “Changes to compensation amounts” for more details).
- If there is one infringement but multiple right holders (whose rights have been infringed), then each of the right holders can file a claim against the infringer separately. A right holder who has recovered compensation must transfer a share of the recovered amount to the other right holders.
- If multiple persons commit multiple separate infringements, a court may hold them to account jointly and severally for a single infringement if two conditions are met:
- The infringements were committed using the same counterfeit tangible media
- Holding each infringer to account individually would result in unjust enrichment of the right holder.
In addition to enshrining in law approaches already taken by courts to the application of sanctions for infringements of intellectual property rights, the Law introduces a number of changes that represent a departure from prevailing interpretations or fill gaps in Russian law. These are considered in more detail below.
Current version | New version |
The Russian Civil Code does not contain provisions allowing the holding to account of a person who did not use IP himself but assisted in such an infringement.
| Compensation may be recovered for the commission of acts which do not constitute an infringement of exclusive rights in a work, but which facilitated such infringement. |
A court cannot alter the manner in which compensation is calculated on its own initiative.
| If the chosen method of calculation of compensation is not appropriate, the court may recover compensation in a fixed amount. |
If a person fails, while making free use of a work, to indicate the name of the author, including due to it not being given in the source, the author may seek the recovery of compensation.
| The actions described in the left column are not deemed an infringement of exclusive rights, and the rights in question can be protected in the manner prescribed for personal non-property rights (for example, compensation for moral harm). |
The Civil Code, having regard to the position expressed by the Russian Constitutional Court, allowed for goods imported as “parallel imports” to be seized and destroyed if they were of poor quality and/or in the public interest.
| The wording “illegally used” in relation to a trademark, etc., is replaced by the word “illegally affixed”, which would prevent goods imported as “parallel imports” from being seized and destroyed. |
It will be recalled that Russian civil law currently lays down three main methods for determining the amount of compensation:
- As a fixed sum of money
- As a multiple of the value of the right to use a result of intellectual activity
- As a multiple of the value of counterfeit products/tangible media
Under the amendments, the basic maximum amount of fixed sum compensation is increased to 10 million rubles (from 5 million at present).
In addition, the Law provides for the amount of compensation to be increased in certain cases:
Condition for increase | Type of compensation | ||
Fixed sum compensation | Compensation determined as a multiple of the value of the right to use IP | Compensation determined as a multiple of the value of counterfeit media | |
If multiple IP elements are used in a single counterfeit medium2
| Maximum of 20 million rubles | From one to two times the value of the right to use the IP | From one to two times the value of counterfeit tangible media |
All the following conditions3:
| From 11,000 to 11 million rubles | 220% of the value of the right to use the IP | 220% of the value of counterfeit tangible media |
If (1) multiple IP items are used in a single counterfeit medium, and (2) the infringers have removed technological protection measures and removed/altered information on copyright4
| No increase | From 150% to 220% of the value of the right to use the IP | From 150% to 220% of the value of counterfeit tangible media |
The Law leaves only one compensation method in the event of an infringement of the exclusive right to a geographical indication or appellation of origin: fixed-sum compensation of from 10,000 to 5 million rubles.
A court may (but is not obliged to) reduce the compensation amount where the following conditions are simultaneously met:
- The infringement was committed by the person concerned in the course of carrying on business activities
- The infringer was not aware and should not have been aware that they were committing an infringement of exclusive rights
Reduction of the compensation amount:
Fixed-sum compensation | Compensation determined as a multiple of the value of the right to use IP | Compensation determined as a multiple of the value of counterfeit media |
From 10,000 to 500,000 rubles
| From one to two times the value of the right to use the IP | From one to two times the value of counterfeit tangible media |
We believe that these changes may affect the assessment of risks associated with the use of intellectual property by companies.
The B1 team is ready to advise you on any issues related to the protection of intellectual property, including issues related to the imposition of civil law sanctions for the infringement of exclusive rights.
Show references
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[1] Established in judicial rulings, including decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court.
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[2] Applicable to all IP assets in relation to which the recovery of compensation is provided for
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[3] Applicable to copyrighted works
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[4] Applicable to copyrighted works
AUTHORS
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Dmitry Semenov
B1 Director
Legal Services, Tax, Law and Business Support. Specializes in a broad range of intellectual property matters
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Ivan Solonkin
B1 Staff
Legal Services, Tax, Law and Business Support
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