As of January 4, 2026, amendments to the Russian Civil Code revising the rules on the recovery of statutory compensation for IP infringements entered into force.
Key Amendments:
As before, compensation may be calculated either as a fixed amount or as an amount multiple the value of the counterfeit products or the value of royalties for using IP rights. The choice of the method for calculating compensation remains at the discretion of the right holder.
Beginning January 4, 2026, courts are granted the authority to change the method of calculation selected by the right holder and award compensation in a fixed amount if the chosen method is not applicable in the specific case. Before these amendments entered into force, courts had not had the power to alter the method of calculating compensation on their own accord.
For copyrighted works, related rights objects, patent rights objects, and trademarks, the upper limit of fixed compensation has been increased to RUB 10,000,000/about USD 125,000 (previously RUB 5,000,000/about USD 62,500). In addition, for patent rights objects, the lower limit of fixed statutory compensation has been increased to RUB 50,000/about USD 625 (previously RUB 10,000/about USD 125).
Where multiple IP rights are used on a single counterfeit product, the amount of compensation is to be determined by the court within the statutory limits.
A co-right holder who receives compensation is required to distribute it among all co-right holders in equal shares, net of the recipient’s own share.
Compensation may be reduced in the absence of fault on the part of an entrepreneur (i.e., where the person did not know and should not have known that an infringement was being committed). In such cases the compensation, if calculated in a fixed amount, may be awarded from RUB 10,000/about USD 125 to RUB 500,000/about USD 6,250.