On May 5, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a new General License (General License No. 31) authorizing certain transactions related to patents, trademarks, and copyrights that would otherwise be prohibited by OFAC’s Russian sanctions. As a result of the issuance of the General License, firms again have the ability to make IP maintenance and renewal payments to the Russian PTO on behalf of their clients.

In view of this, Cozen O’Connor will continue to make intellectual property maintenance and renewal payments in Russia through our network of third-party agents as permitted under the General License, which provides time for the wind-down of commercial activities in Russia by June 23, 2022.