Intellectual Property

Kept Intellectual Property practice provides a wide range of intellectual property services to companies in all segments of today’s economy.

The practice brings together highly qualified lawyers, patent attorneys, as well as IT and security specialists.

Kept provides intellectual property services in the following areas:

Legal due diligence of intellectual property items, including:

• analysis of the proper registration of the rights of companies to intellectual property items, including inventions, trademarks (service marks), computer software, databases, etc.;
• patent search, review of the patent purity of intellectual property items;
• search for potential violators of rights to trademarks (service marks);
• preparation of recommendations to minimize the identified risks.

Legal support of transactions on the acquisition of companies owning intellectual property items, including:

• due diligence of the assets of companies to be acquired;
• support of negotiations on the terms of M&A transactions, including in relation to intellectual property items;
• assistance in structuring transactions, including in terms of proper ownership of intellectual property;
• preparation of draft M&A transaction documentation, including necessary documents on intellectual property;
• support in registering the disposal of rights in relation to intellectual property items during M&A transactions.

Setting up an intellectual property management system in companies, including:

• audit of the existing system of intellectual property management in organizations;
• development of the intellectual property management strategy of a company;
• preparation of internal regulatory documents necessary for the implementation of the intellectual property management system and the transfer of rights to intellectual property items from employees to the employer.

Intellectual property consulting, including:

• consulting on intellectual property protectability issues;
• preparation and analysis of agreements: license agreements, agreements on the alienation of exclusive rights, commercial concession (franchising) agreements, contracts with authors, order agreements, pledge agreements, R&D contracts, etc.;
• advice on parallel imports;
• consulting on issues related to the development and commercialization of intellectual property items, including IT solutions and software;
• resolution of tax issues related to intellectual property, including the application of concessions for IT companies, tax savings when performing R&D, taxation of e-services, etc.

Registration of intellectual property items, including:

• support of the registration of intellectual property designations and objects of patent law in Russia and abroad;
• preparation and submission of applications for registration of computer software and databases at Rospatent;
• registration of intellectual property items in the customs register of the Russian Federation;
• registration of computer software in the register of Russian software.

Protection of trade secrets and confidential information, including:

• analysis of the existing arrangements for confidential information protection at the company, preparation of recommendations to minimize the risks of information disclosure;
• development of the confidential information protection strategy of a company;
• preparation of draft internal regulatory documents on information protection, agreements with counterparties (NDA);
• advising on the establishment of a trade secret regime.

Protection of the rights of owners of intellectual property items against violations, including:

• development of a strategy for prosecution of violators and protection of intellectual property rights, selection of an appropriate method for protecting exclusive rights;
• legal support during pre-trial settlement of disputes (including preparation of claims and evidence base);
• legal protection of exclusive rights of rights holders;
• support during disputes in respect of intellectual property.

Protection of business interests through lawmaking

Kept experts are actively involved in the legislative work, in particular, they participate in the work of the task force groups under the RF Ministry of Finance and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on the development of legislation on agreements to protect and promote capital investments, including in terms of the possibility of developing and protecting intellectual property created under such agreements.

Recognition

The lawyers of the practice have been regularly recognized by the rating agency Best Lawyers as leading consultants in the field of intellectual property in Russia.

You can find the full description of our services and examples of projects by downloading the brochure here.