Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree that empowers chief designers to propose the use of "results of intellectual activity, rights to which do not belong to the Russian Federation" in the creation of military technology and armaments. This directive was published on the legal acts portal.
This means that designers will now be able to specify which foreign technologies, equipment, or software they require for weapons production, allowing them to use these resources without the permission of the rights holders. Pavel Luzin, a guest researcher at the Fletcher School, explained this change to Important Stories.
The decree also emphasizes the importance of patent research in the design of weaponry. Patent research involves analyzing existing technologies, services, and know-how in the market to assess the competitiveness of the developed product. In this context, it grants designers more freedom in selecting necessary technologies for production based on existing patents, according to the expert.
Luzin interpreted the decree's implications: "To put it bluntly, it says, 'Guys, we can’t keep up with your problems and desires — sort it out yourselves, but we urgently need weapons.'"
Earlier this spring, a Russian initiative under Putin's orders began to establish a "compulsory licensing" body. This involves an inter-agency commission that will grant permissions to use foreign intellectual property products without the consent of patent holders. This will occur "in exceptional cases" and only if 75% or more of the rights holder's ownership belongs to the Russian state or a Russian citizen.
Patent holders were promised "proportional compensation" for the use of their technologies.
