OREANDA-NEWS. June 14, 2013. Nikolai Kartashov, the Head of FAS Department for Control over Advertising and Fair Competition, made this statement on 5th June 2013 at a press-conference organized by the “Novosti” Russian Information Agency – an “Unorthodox View of the Role of Intellectual Property in Russia’s Innovative Development”- a joint study by the High School of Economics and “Skolkovo” Foundation: “Intellectual Property and the Development of Society”.

He outlined the FAS position on prohibition of parallel import of foreign goods and competition policy in the field of circulating the rights for intellectual property. Emphasizing the importance of the study, he said: “Undoubtedly, we welcome new research projects on these issues. We are in favour of liberalizing parallel import since it will enable our companies to lawfully import goods in the country in a free mode. We also think that parallel import gives a necessary support for the innovative breakthrough in all industries. The study confirms its. The findings of the social poll, conducted by “Skolkovo, are extremely important because they reflect the problems facing Russian start-ups”.

Presenting the study, Alexei Ivanov, Director of the Department for Legal Policy and Public Development, of “Skolkovo”, pointed out that “this is the first full-scale interdisciplinary study in Russia of an impact of the institution of intellectual property upon social development and stimulation of innovative activities. Experts from the leading universities of the world were engaged in conducting the study. The study was presented on 16 May 2013 at St Petersburg International Legal Forum, the section on “Protecting Competition and Intellectual Property: Unity and Struggle of Opposites”.

“The existing intellectual property regime has some restrictions, weak points and areas that require an increased attention of legislators. One of such problems is prohibition of parallel import. Skolkovo residents expressed an interest in conducting a study to sum up practical experience in this field. They took into account the relevant international experience and issued recommendations for Russian legislators to correctly consider the interests of small and medium innovative businesses in Russia. We hope that our best practices and proposals will form the basis of the national strategy; we are prepared to actively work with representatives of the federal executive authorities involved”, summed up Alexei Ivanov.

Director of the Centre for Competition and Market Regulation, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Professor of Moscow State University, Andrey Shastitko, talked about the problems emerging at the confluence of competition policy and intellectual property rights. “Competition is a driver of any modern economy; neither economic growth, nor economic development is possible without it. But it is also impossible to achieve success without the results of intellectual activity. If there is a possibility of abusing the rights for the results of intellectual activities, then there is a possibility to abuse the rights for competition protection. Market participants enjoy these rights actively, protecting, first of all, their interests under the guise of protecting competition”, explained Prof. Shastitko.

Deputy Director of the Institute for Analysis of Enterprises and Markets, High School of Economics, Professor Svetlana Avdasheva discussed legislative methods for protecting intellectual property rights. She emphasized that “speaking about intellectual property rights, we have in mind very different circumstances”. “And very different methods are used for protecting intellectual property. The problem is that from the legal point of view protection of intellectual property means protection of very different rights and very different participants. It includes protection of the rights of developers, and the rights of, for instance, brand-name companies”, emphasized Svetlana Avdasheva.