Filing Requirements for Trademark Applications in Russia
Trademarks can be powerful instruments for promoting goods on the market. The right to use and register trademarks ensures legal protection of financial and intellectual investments, and ensures consumer recognition and trust.
ARS-Patent includes a group of attorneys, who have an extensive experience in trademark protection and practice. We assist our clients in developing and implementing applications and agreements to register and enforce trademarks and service marks. We are readily available to advise our clients on their trademark selection and usage, while helping to avoid conflicts and instances of infringement with other marks.
In trademarks, ARS-Patent provides a wide variety of services, most significantly in:
- conducting partial and full prior art searches;
- registration of domestic and foreign trademarks with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks ("Rospatent"), including expedited proceedings
- negotiating and drafting licenses, assignments and other agreements;
- international registration of trademarks, by utilizing the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol system;
- obtaining ownership of registered and pending trademarks;
- maintaining domestic and foreign trademark registration portfolios, especially for reinstatement of a trademark patent or application;
- prosecuting and defending our clients' interests in trademark oppositions, appeals, cancellations and infringement actions;
- representation of our clients [in inter partes and ex partes matters] before the Chamber for Patent Disputes.
Our in-depth knowledge spans every aspect of trademark law. Our practice-oriented professionals have extensive trademark experience, and therefore, are able to help our clients avoid difficulties and predicaments by providing practical advice, timely assistance in negotiations of agreements, and committed representation in the courts.
ARS-Patent's attorneys are proficient in selecting and obtaining the maximum scope of rights for trademarks and domain names, and know the most effective means for defending and challenging such rights in the courts.
TRADEMARK SEARCHES
Before filing a trademark application, our firm offers extensive prior art searches in international and Russian databases of registered trademarks and service marks, in order to check if a planned trademark or service mark is in fact available for use. On the basis of prior art searches, our skilled professionals and attorneys provide our clients with a detailed legal opinion. Upon our client's request, if a service mark or a trademark is registered in the Russian Federation, we can contact third parties who possess prior rights in order to obtain coexistence agreements and thus negotiate freedom to use that mark in the Russian Federation market.
Due to our geographic proximity to the Russian Patent and Trademark Office and our modern facilities, we have direct access to official trademark search systems used by PTO examiners.
Instead of full prior-art searches, preliminary trademark searches can also be conducted through our internal system, in order to examine potential words or phrases. We can usually complete these searches the day after we receive a client's instructions and at a cost lower than that of a full prior art search.
WATCHING SERVICES
ARS-Patent's professionals and attorneys review all of the new trademarks, which are published by the Russian PTO and notify our clients of trademarks, which are of unfair competition. Cancellation proceedings can then be prosecuted before the Board of Appeals and the Higher Patent Chamber. In contrast, when the patentability of our clients' trademark or service mark is under question, our attorneys are highly experienced in litigating against such actions.
TRADEMARKS AND DOMAIN NAMES
An increasing number of consumers prefer to use the Internet for a variety of commercial transactions. The Internet has a particular benefit for Russian businesses and consumers due to the vast size of our country. It provides foreigners with cheap and effective means to develop their business and products on the previously inaccessible territories of the Russian Federation.
The use of domain names on the Internet and the issue of the interrelationship of these rights to those of trademarks have become critical because the Internet has become a powerful instrument for competitive commercial activity.
We assist our clients in the acquisition, transfer and maintenance of second and third level domain names. Timely registration, especially for trademark owners of legitimate and registered marks, is vitally important due to the absence of any effective legislation regulating the use and misuse of domains.
Domain name and online intellectual property protection services include:
- Expedited registration of domain names as trademarks.
- Challenging or mediating with and, where appropriate, negotiating with domain name squatters and infringers.
- Challenging or mediating with and, where appropriate, representing clients before the courts, antimonopoly, and administrative bodies.
CUSTOMS SEIZURE
ARS-Patent has significant experience in working with the Russian Customs Authorities on the importation of goods. Needless to say, the marketing of counterfeit products causes considerable injury to law-abiding manufactures and traders, infringes the rights of trademark owners, and misleads consumers.
In order to prevent counterfeit products from entering the Russian market, we can request seizure at custom points by placing trademarks on the special watch list that the State Customs Committee issues to each Russian border point. In order to attain maximum efficiency, we have recognized, as practitioners, the critical importance of direct communication with officials in connection with the seizure of counterfeit goods. The written word is often inadequate in resolving the complex issues at stake in such a delicate and complicated area.
Please see the Customs-Related Services section for more detail.
Trademark Services
