Did you know that the number of trademark applications again increased in Russia in 2019? There were over 10 000 more national trademark filings and 1 400 more international trademark filings than in 2018.
All trademark applications in Russia in 2019:
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Total number of national trademark applications | 44476 | 43762 | 50639 | 56332 | 58658 | 68 705 |
| Total number of International TMs | 16712 | 17715 | 14123 | 17178 | 17404 | 18804 |
| Number of rejection decisions | 11988 | 10271 | 8596 | 9035 | 9507 | 10512 |
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||
| Russian applicants | 34174 | 34304 | 41523 | 46600 | 49122 | 58616 | |
| Foreign applicants | 10302 | 9458 | 9116 | 9732 | 9536 | 10089 | |
| Total | 44476 | 43762 | 50639 | 56332 | 58658 | 68705 | |
About 15% of national applications were filed by foreigners. See below the top foreign filers:
These statistics show that in spite of international sanctions placed against Russia, Russia is still an attractive country in terms of intellectual property rights protection. Further, the numbers demonstrate that national filings are still a more popular way to protect trademarks.
“The reason for companies to file more national trademark applications is twofold: Russian applicants file national applications because trademarks are mostly used and protected in Russian Cyrillic characters which are used in Russia”, explains Papula-Nevinpat’s Riikka Palmos, Trademark Lawyer.
“In addition, foreign companies file national applications to cover the Cyrillic version of their trademarks in Russia because protecting a trademark in Cyrillic as an international trademark in Russia is not reasonable, as there are different Cyrillic characters used in different CIS countries”, adds Riikka.
Sometimes the Russian Patent Office, Rospatent, refuses a trademark application. The examiner’s refusal can be first appealed to the Patent Disputes Chamber (PDC) of Rospatent. The decision of the PDC can be further appealed to the IP Court.
The following numbers show that the Court tends to follow Rospatent’s decisions. This demonstrates that appeals filed with the IP Court must be well prepared and grounded in order to be successful.
| 2018 | 2019 | |
| Number of appeals against Rospatent’s decisions at Court | 226 | 257 |
| Appeals accepted | 52 | 64 |
| Appeals refused | 174 | 193 |
Do you need help in protecting your brand also in Russia? We at Papula-Nevinpat would be happy to assist you in all trademark matters in Russia and the Eurasia region.
Patent applications relating to solutions aimed to combat coronavirus and related diseases are currently eligible for prioritized, fast-track examination program in the Russian Patent Office (Rospatent)
Registration of a trademark at the national customs registers is an efficient tool to fight counterfeiting. However, even though the introduction of the IP register of the Eurasian Customs Union is already established, the member states have so far failed to implement it in practice.
Also this year our attorneys gathered many IP STARS 2020 nominations – IP STARS are IP experts who have been highly recommended by their peers and customers.
The Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) and the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) have agreed to launch a joint Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Programme to enable work-sharing and accelerated treatment of patent applications at both offices.
