Not only adults, but also children can be inventors. This is their natural state. They have more developed creative thinking, unencumbered by knowledge and prohibitions, which helps them come up with things that adults cannot. It is the child who tries to solve problems, coming up with non-standard ways to solve them, and often achieves their goals, but with the help of adults. For example, in 1824, 15-year-old Louis Braille, the son of a shoemaker, invented a system of raised dot writing for blind and visually impaired people (Braille), and 6-year-old Robert Patch (in 1936), having visited a toy store with his father, but not being interested in anything, drew a car of the kind he would like. Later, his father independently made the first dump truck and subsequently patented the invention

In 2012, Kaliningrad schoolboy Enver Kurbanov invented a way to extract energy from rain to charge mobile phones, and Sverdlovsk school student Sergei Khalyavin (in 2016) and his technology teacher Oksana Firsova invented a computer mouse for people without upper limbs.

The holder of a patent for the invention was also 11-year-old Vladislav Koren from Angarsk, who patented a toy highway. Adults are also listed as co-authors - Marina Shpakovskaya and Mikhail Zhavrin, who probably helped to design it.

An interesting development aimed at developing fine motor skills for children with disabilities and not only for them was made by 13-year-old Alsu Tarzhemanova (RF). (

https://materinstvo.ru/art/15977

Materinstvo.ru)

However, for minors it is hardly possible to realize an idea by creating a prototype, conduct tests, attract investors and launch a business project without the help of adults, much less register their product as an invention, utility model or industrial design and obtain a patent at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS).

Despite the fact that in accordance with Art. 18 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a person has the author’s right to the results of intellectual activity from birth, that is, until the age of 18; however, registration of rights to an object of intellectual property (IP) from a minor has its own characteristics and difficulties.

Thus, up to 14 years of age, a child is considered a minor and according to Art. 28 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, transactions for him can only be made by his legal representatives. Children under 14 years of age can independently carry out only transactions, for example, aimed at obtaining benefits free of charge or that do not require notarization and state registration, but transactions for the disposal of IP objects are not included in this category and their implementation is carried out by the child’s legal representatives (parents, adoptive parents or guardians).

Thus, a child under the age of 14 who created an IP object can be recognized as its author, since according to Art. 1347 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the author of the result of intellectual activity is the citizen who created it with his creative work. But only the legal representative of a minor can register this object and obtain a patent for it, and then implement it in any business project (in accordance with Article 28 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Summarizing the above, we can say that a child who created an IP object under the age of 14 years can be recognized as its author, but only his legal representative can obtain a patent and commercialize it.

From the age of 14 to 18, children are considered minors and their legal capacity is recognized as partial. However, according to Art. 26 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, they have the right to independently and without the consent of their legal representatives exercise their personal non-property, property and other rights in relation to the intellectual property created by them. That is, a citizen from the age of 14 has the right to register exclusive rights to the result of intellectual activity with Rospatent and receive a patent in his name. He also has the right to use an invention, utility model or industrial design in any way that does not contradict the law, dispose of exclusive rights by concluding licensing agreements, alienating rights, etc.

It should be noted that the requirements for completing an application and preparing documents for Rospatent are generally accepted for minors. Just as in the case of submission of documents to Rospatent by adult inventors, a formal examination, a substantive examination is carried out, and after successful completion of the examination and completion of registration, the copyright holder receives a patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design.