Article 1383. The Consequences of the Coincidence of Priority Dates of an Invention, Utility Model or Industrial Design

1. If an expert examination has established that various applicants have filed applications for identical inventions, utility models or industrial designs, and that these applications have one and the same priority date then a patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design may be issued only on one of these applications to the person designated by agreement among the applicants. Within 12 months after the receipt of a relevant notice from the federal executive governmental body charged with intellectual property matters, the applicants shall inform that federal body of the agreement reached by them. When a patent is issued on one of the applications all the authors mentioned in the application shall be deemed co-authors in respect of the identical inventions, utility models or industrial designs. If applications for identical inventions, utility models or industrial designs having one and the same priority date have been filed by one and the same applicant, a patent shall be issued on the application chosen by the applicant. The applicant shall notify of its choice within the term and in the procedure set out in Paragraph 2 of the present article. Unless within the established term the federal executive governmental body charged with intellectual property matters receives from the applicants the said notice or petition for extension of the established term in the procedure set out in Item 5 of Article 1386 of the present Code, the applications shall be deemed withdrawn.

2. In the event of coincidence of the priority dates of an invention and a utility model identical thereto for which patent applications have been filed by one and the same applicant when a patent is issued under one of the applications a patent under the other application shall be possible only on the condition that an application for termination of that patent is filed with the federal executive governmental body charged with intellectual property matters by the owner of the earlier patent for the identical invention or the identical utility model. In this case the patent issued earlier shall be terminated starting from the date of publication of information on the issuance of the patent on the other application in keeping with Article 1394 of the present Code. Information on the issuance of the patent for the invention or the utility model and information on the termination of the earlier patent shall be published simultaneously.

3. The Expert Examination of a Patent Application. The Temporary Legal Protection of an Invention, Utility Model and Industrial Design