Shares in intellectual property
Current Russian Civil Code states that exclusive intellectual property right may belong to one person or to several persons jointly. It means that if intellectual property has several proprietors, they are entitled to dispose of it only in a joint tenancy mode, i.e. it is necessary to obtain consent of all co-owners.
According to new amendments, proprietors will be allowed to allocate shares in the exclusive intellectual property rights and freely dispose of them.
If one proprietor decides to sell a share, other proprietors will get a preferential right to acquire this share. The seller will be prohibited to offer third parties to buy the share at price that differs from the price offered to other proprietors. However, some restrictions will be imposed on disposal of shares in the exclusive right, for example, shares cannot be pledged or contributed to the authorized capital of companies.
This amendments’ purpose is to make turnover of intellectual property more accessible, since now it will be possible to dispose of share in exclusive intellectual property right without obtaining the consent of co-owners.
