Analytics and brochures

Russia is still heavily dependent on foreign medicines. While the healthcare budget heads in somewhat the opposite direction, skyrocketing prices for these medicines has been cause for heated debate. In particular, once again there are discussions over lifting the ban on parallel imports of medicines. More precisely, the topic has been resurrected, as disputes have rumbled on over several years, occasionally fading into the background. The current, temporary difficulties provide fertile ground for the argument to flourish again, which was evident by a series of disputes starting this February.

Sergey Sosnovsky from Pepeliaev Group: I will of course hear the plenary session which will cover politics as well as the law and go to Valery Zorkin’s session. He is a very respected person.

In October 2014, the Russian Civil Code was extensively amended in relation to regulating intellectual property. For instance, a fully fledged expert examination of utility models will be conducted, rather than a formal examination. The previous absence of a fully fledged expert review resulted in there being patents that formed the basis for so-called ‘patent trolls’ to assert claims against good-faith manufacturers. 

Sergey Spasennov, Partner at Pepeliaev Group: The forum is an opportunity to hear about the tendencies of our foreign peers. This year we will discuss how the new Supreme Court has affected dispute resolution in the past year.

The ongoing crisis in the Russian economy has had a significant impact on the practice of applying bankruptcy law and on its development. This is amply demonstrated by the increase of around a 30% growth in bankruptcy cases in 2014.