MUNDO ASIPI Magazine: The new IP landscape in Russia and Ukraine
Papula-Nevinpat's Riikka Palmos has written an article about the new IP landscape in Russia and Ukraine which was published in the latest edition of MUNDO ASIPI Magazine.
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.
Papula-Nevinpat's Riikka Palmos has written an article about the new IP landscape in Russia and Ukraine which was published in the latest edition of MUNDO ASIPI Magazine.
Read the article in the latest issue of the World Intellectual Property Review (issue 4/2022) written by our European Trademark Attorney Riikka Palmos.
Read about new IP-related counteractions to sanctions in Belarus and Russia.
This Christmas we have donated to the Good Holiday Spirit campaign (Hyvä Joulumieli). It is a campaign with an aim to raise funds for food supplies for families in Finland who are in need due to unemployment, illness, debt, low income, or some other crisis. The raised funds are given to the families as gift […]