Russia News Archives
July 21, 2010
Russian Couple Arrested in EUR 1 Billion Film Piracy Case
The Russian authorities have recently arrested and filed criminal charges against a Russian couple Ivan and Irina Podorozhnikovymi, who registered and hosted a file-sharing website called Interfilm, where they uploaded pirated movies allegedly causing almost EUR 1 billion (USD 1.25 billion) in damages.
According to the blog TorrentFreak, reporting on the latest news on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, Interfilm offered pre-released, camcorded movies with links to piracy groups outside the country. The husband and wife are known online as ‘Ripper’ and ‘Nadezhda’.
Police have also arrested several staff members, located some of the website’s most active users and may open criminal cases against those who kept large numbers of downloaded movies on their personal computers or uploaded them on their own websites.
In 2007 and 2008, Interfilm was one of the most popular BitTorrent trackers. On May 26, 2009, the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out a raid on the tracker, after receiving complaints from the Russian Anti-Piracy Organization (RAPO).
According to TorrentFreak, although Interfilm had closed down after the raid, it reappeared at LeaseWeb in the Netherlands. In addition to using the Interfilm.ru domain, the website is allegedly operational from BitHouse.org.
In February 2010, the Russian authorities seized the domain of Russia’s most popular file-sharing website, Torrents.ru, which immediately moved to a new location, Rutracker.org.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: The Moscow Times, TorrentFreak
Sunrise Period for Russian Cyrillic Domain Ends Mid-September
The sunrise period for the registration of the Russian Cyrillic .РФ domain names is underway, ending on September 16, 2010. From November 25, 2009 to March 25, 2010 the Russian Federation allowed priority registration on behalf of Russian state authorities. From March 25 to May 12, 2010, trademark owners whose trademarks (word elements) contained Russian Cyrillic were able to submit applications.
On May 12, 2010, the registration became available to all trademark owners. On July 15, 2010 several new categories of users were added:
- Exclusive owners of company names, officially registered in Russia,
- Exclusive owners of geographical indications of origin;
- Non-profit organizations officially registered Russia;
- Mass media owners officially registered in Russia before May 12, 2010.
For trademark owners, the application for priority registration should be submitted with a copy of the trademark certificate and a copy of the legal entity certificate or an entrepreneur registration certificate. If the application is based on an international trademark registration, a certificate showing that the registration is valid in Russia should also be submitted.
It is possible to register a domain name corresponding to a trademark that is not written in Russian Cyrillic. In this case, the non-Russian Cyrillic trademark or part of the trademark may be transcribed or transliterated, at the discretion of the trademark owner, into Russian Cyrillic.
In case a trademark name includes endings such as “.RU” or “.COM”, etc. or their transliteration (“.РУ”, “.КОМ”, etc.), the rights holder may exclude the endings from a domain name. The spaces in the word element can also be deleted or replaced with hyphens.
For example, a trademark holder of “ABCD.RU” can register the following domain names:
- абцд.рф
- абцдру.рф
- абцд-ру.рф
According to DomainNews.com, around 15,000 domain names have already been registered and it is expected that there will be more than 50,000 domain names registered by mid-September. In late 2010, the .РФ domain names will be available to the general public throughout the world.
More information on the priority registration rules and procedures is available here.
For more information, please contact Taras Kulbaba or Jelena Jankovic.
Source: Russian Coordination Center
June 23, 2010
Russian Online Pharmacy Uses PGEU Endorsement Logo Without Authorization
A Russian online pharmacy has been using the endorsement logo of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), a European association representing European Union pharmacists, on their e-commerce website without PGEU authorization, leading consumers to believe that the pharmaceutical goods sold on the Russian website are approved by this Brussels-based organization.
The PGEU was informed on May 19, 2010 that the Russian owned Internet pharmacy, named Canadian Neighbor Pharmacy, offering Viagra and other prescription drugs, posted the PGEU endorsement logo. The pharmacy was taken down on May 20, 2010. Its web address was www.cancarepharmacy.com.
By clicking on the PGEU logo, the customers would be redirected to a counterfeit certificate signed by the PGEU President Filip Babylon. The pharmacy also claimed that four other North American pharmacy associations endorsed it.
The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) insists that the PGEU endorsement logo is displayed on all legal online pharmacies. Considering the apparent ease of counterfeiting endorsement certification, PGEU calls for a better solution. “Of course it is absolutely important that patients who wish to buy medicines legally on the Internet are given safe options to do so. However our experience shows that we run the risk of creating a false sense of security if counterfeiting certification is so easy. We should not put patients in the position of having to discriminate between fake and real certification. We need to explore technological options which put certification beyond the counterfeiters”, stated the PGEU Secretary General John Chave.
The PGEU became aware of the unauthorized use of the endorsement logo when one of its members received a spam email message from the Russian pharmacy with the alleged PGEU endorsement.
PGEU represents around 400,000 members, including national associations and representative bodies of European Union pharmacists in 30 countries.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Medical News Today
Level of Fake Pesticides in Russia Doubles
The amount of counterfeit pesticides used in Russia has doubled in the last few years and is now among the highest in the world, reports agroru.com, a Russian agricultural portal.
According to the Russian Union of Manufacturers of Crop Protection Products (RUMCPP) estimates, the share of counterfeit pesticides in Russia ranges from 15 to 30 percent whereas in 2006 it was 10 percent. The value of counterfeit pesticides is estimated to be approximately USD 85,000,000 (EUR 69,000,000).
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Agroru.com
May 24, 2010
First Cyrillic Domain Launched in Russia
On May 13, 2010, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) officially delegated the first Cyrillic domain .рф to Russia at the Internet Governance Forum in Moscow. The first two websites available on .рф are the Russian president and government’s websites президент.рф and правительство.рф.
The letters .рф are equivalent to the Latin letters rf, short for the Russian Federation. According to RIA Novosti, all Internet browsers support the new domain and the domain names must contain only letters from the Russian alphabet.
In January 2010, the ICANN announced that Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first four countries that met a specific set of linguistic and technical requirements for domain names written entirely in local scripts.
The Russian Cyrillic domain aims to affirm the status of Russian as a world language and make Internet use easier for Russian speakers unfamiliar with Latin letters. According to RIA Novosti, the number of websites with the .рф suffix may reach up to 50,000 by the end of this year.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: RIA Novosti
Russian Tuberculosis Clinics Get Minilabs to Prevent Fake Medicines
Three tuberculosis clinics in Russia have been equipped with GPHF-Minilabs, mobile mini-laboratories supplied by the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF), to protect patients from being treated with counterfeit medicines, the proliferation of which is a burning problem in Russia.
These small laboratories can quickly verify drug quality and detect counterfeit medicines, making it possible for doctors at clinics in Moscow, Russia’s capital, and the cities of Vladimir and Orel in the western part of the country, to get rid of counterfeit pharmaceuticals that could increase the spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: SecuringPharma.com
April 26, 2010
Adidas Sues Two Russian Shoe Retailers, Wins One Case, Loses Another
German-based sports apparel manufacturer Adidas has recently won one and lost one legal battle against two Russian shoe retailers that sold sneakers with Adidas’ trademark diagonal stripes.
Earlier this month, Adidas lost the trademark infringement suit against Alba, a retailer with 70 outlets in Russia. Adidas demanded that the disputed 400 pairs of sneakers be destroyed and sought EUR 63,801 (USD 86,413) in compensation, but the Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed its claims. We were not able to obtain the exact basis of the court’s decision.
The same court, however, ruled in favor of Adidas in August 2009, following the lawsuit started in May 2009 against Tsentrobuv, Russian largest shoe retailer with 300 stores across the country. Adidas claimed that women’s sneakers bearing the mark of Centro were confusingly similar to its own. The court confiscated all disputed goods and ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff EUR 766 (USD 1037) in damages.
For more information, please contact Andriy Nikolayenko at our Ukraine office.
Source: Pravo.ru
March 30, 2010
Russia Closes Top File-Sharing Website Torrents.ru
Russian authorities have without any notice suspended Russia’s most popular file-sharing website torrents.ru for the alleged violation of copyright laws.
Ru-Center, Russia’s main domain name registration center, closed down the website on February 18, 2010, following the order of Moscow prosecutors and stating that the decision was due to the January 26, 2010 illegal online sale of the Autodesk software by a Moscow resident for USD 50 (EUR 36).
Ru-Center spokesman Andrei Vorobyov said that even though the center has closed down websites in the past due to pornography and extremism, this is the first time they were ordered to close one down due to IPR infringement.
On February 20, thousands of outraged users signed an online letter of appeal, sent directly to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, claiming that the officials overstepped the bounds of their authority and harmed the website’s 4 million users.
“This out-of-the-blue decision is proof of the incompetence of our police. What was done was utterly illegal – you have to have a decision from the court before you can just cut off a website,” stated Nikita Kislitsyn, the editor of Russian computer magazine Hacker.
On the contrary, Yury Grymov, a popular film director in Russia, thinks the authorities made a good decision.
“Piracy takes away ninety percent of our profits. It has destroyed cinema in this country and we can’t finance the films we want as a result. It is high time the government did something about pirates,” Grymov said.
Despite the controversy and the possible infringement charges, the owners of torrents.ru have moved their website and files to a new location, rutracker.org.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: RIA Novosti
.RU Domain Registration Policy Change as of April 1, 2010
Starting from April 1, 2010, the official registry of the Russian .RU domain, Coordination Center, will require registrants applying for .RU domain name to show a proof of identity.
This new policy was adopted to curb computer crime, including spam, fraud and obscene content, by making it harder for criminals to register domain names under fake identities.
To verify their identities, natural persons will need to submit a copy of their passport and legal entities a copy of their state registration certificate.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: The Register
Russian Retailer Registers Wal-Rus Trademark Ahead of Wal-Mart Arrival
X5 Retail Group, the largest Russian retail company in terms of sales, has registered the Wal-Rus trademark, similar to that of the American largest retailer Wal-Mart, ahead of Wal-Mart’s expected arrival in the country, according to RBC Daily, Russian business newspaper.
The supermarket chain Perekrestok, part of X5 Retail Group, reportedly registered the trademark, featuring a star between the two words, in December 2009, following its application with the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) in October 2009.
However, Wal-Mart representative in Russia, Konstantin Dubinin, said that Wal-Mart changed its corporate identity and adopted a new logo in 2008, abandoning the star. RBC Daily’s source doubted that the American retailer, which has been expected to enter the Russian market for many years, will file a trademark infringement suit against its Russian counterpart.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: RBC Daily
Half of Russia’s Cell Phones Counterfeit or Contraband
According to the recent estimates of Mobiset.ru, Russia’s telecommunications portal, two to three percent of cell phones in Russia are counterfeit and around 50 percent are contraband.
Counterfeit phones mostly originate in China and range from low to high-quality copies. The most commonly copied brands include Nokia, BlackBerry, iPhone and Apple.
According to the Moscow Times, a Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition phone costs EUR 7,480 (USD 10,500) in an official Vertu shop while it is sold for only EUR 196 (USD 267) on Moscow’s street markets.
According to the article, the Russian customs officials discovered 7 million counterfeit items and initiated more than 1,000 legal proceedings across the country in the first two weeks of 2010 alone.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: The Moscow Times
February 23, 2010
Russian Antitrust Commission Bans Chocolates Similar to Ferrero Rocher
The Federal Antitrust Commission of Russia (FAS) has recently ruled that the Russian confectionery maker Konti-Rus violated the Law on Protection of Competition by producing the Esfero Crema sweets, which were found to be confusingly similar to the Italian confectionary maker Ferrero’s chocolates Ferrero Rocher.
As the legal portal Pravo.ru reported on February 1, 2010, the FAS claimed unfair competition on the basis of trademark infringement, stating that the packaging and the look of chocolates were confusingly similar to Ferrero’s signature round Nutella-filled chocolates wrapped in gold foil.
The case against Konti-Rus was dismissed as the infringer voluntarily admitted violation of article 14.4, of the Law on Protection of Competition, which prohibits the production and sale of goods infringing intellectual property rights.
For more information, please contact Elena Zubenko or Jelena Jankovic.
Source: Pravo.ru
Russian Cyrillic Domain Passes ICANN String Evaluation
On January 21, 2010, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first four countries to meet a specific set of linguistic and technical requirements required under the ICANN’s IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) ccTLD Fast Track String Evaluation.
The ICANN has received a total of 17 requests for an IDN ccTLD through the String Evaluation process, representing ten languages, but only four countries listed above have so far passed the evaluation.
The next step for the four approved countries is to request String Delegation. String delegation requests are submitted to IANA root zone management.
This is an important milestone for domain names written entirely in local scripts, in this case Cyrillic and Arabic.
The Fast Track String Evaluation was approved on October 30, 2009 by the ICANN Board.
A full overview of activities and links to the materials related to this matter can be found here.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: ICANN
Twenty-Five Percent of Russian Software Outlets Sell Counterfeit Microsoft Programs
Over the last few months, Microsoft conducted an inspection of 2,500 computer and software retailers in 53 Russian cities and discovered that 25 percent sold counterfeit programs, while 11 percent offered to install illegal software.
According to the survey results that Microsoft published on February 8, 2010, Central Siberia and the Russian Far East are top offenders, with up to 71 percent of outlets in those regions selling unlicensed software. According to RIA Novosti, high piracy rates were also recorded in Sverdlovsk (41 percent), Chelyabinsk (30 percent) and Moscow regions (27 percent).
The evidence that Microsoft provided to the Russian authorities led to nearly 1,000 prosecutions related to the illegal use of software in 2009.
That said, the piracy rate of Microsoft software in Russia is in decline, stated Denis Guz, responsible for Microsoft’s department promoting the sale of licensed software.
“A few years ago most computer stores in Russia offered some form of pirate software. Now, as we can see, there are fewer sales points of that kind,” Guz stated.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
January 21, 2010
Forbes Wins Domain Name Forbes.ru and USD 300,000 in Damages
American business magazine Forbes and its Russian publisher Axel Springer Russia won a case against a Russian travel agency Landmark VIP Services, which has been using the domain name forbes.ru, and received a record USD 300,000 (EUR 212,000) in damages, the magazine announced on January 15, 2010 on its website.
The Moscow Arbitration Court ruled against the travel agency for unauthorized use of the magazine’s trademark and ordered the defendant to pay the highest compensation ever awarded in Russia in a domain name case.
Landmark VIP Services, which still has not taken down its website, registered forbes.ru domain name back in 2002. It is currently promoting cruises to the Antarctica on the homepage of its website, where it is also implied that its domain name is in honor of the 19th-century Scottish scientist James David Forbes, known for his study of glaciers.
Russian edition of Forbes has been using the alternative domain name forbesrussia.ru since November 10, 2009, when its Russian website was launched. Forbes hopes to register the forbes.ru domain name soon.
“I am very glad that Russia’s judicial system is following global standards of protection of intellectual property,” stated Regina von Flemming, CEO of Axel Springer Russia.
Grigory Punanov, editor in chief of forbesrussia.ru, was also pleased with the trial’s outcome. “We have fought for a long time for our legitimate right to use the domain name forbes.ru. I hope the court decision will enter into force soon and that our site will be located precisely at that address.”
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Forbes Russia website
January 20, 2010
Burger King Fights for its Domain Name in Russia
American fast food chain Burger King delayed the opening of its first restaurant in Russia after filing a lawsuit against the Dutch company Talco Aktiengesellschaft, which registered the domain name burgerking.ru in 2000.
Although Burger King registered its trademark in Russia in 1994, it did not register its domain name.
In November 2009, Burger King signed a franchise agreement with Shokoladnitza, a popular Russian coffee shop chain, and planned to open its first restaurant in Moscow in December 2009. However, after refusing to buy the existing domain name from the present rights holder, on November 30, 2009 Burger King sued the Dutch company for trademark infringement at the Moscow Arbitration Court.
According to intellectual property experts, Burger King is likely to win the case, as Part 4 of the Russian Federation Civil Code, effective since January 1, 2008, states that a trademark holder has the exclusive right to use a domain name corresponding to its trade name. Experts argue that the fast food chain may even receive compensation of up to EUR 117,000 (USD 170,000).
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Kommersant
Counterfeit Chinese Fireworks Blamed for the Deadly Russian Nightclub Fire
A politician from the ruling United Russia party blamed counterfeit Chinese fireworks for the fire that engulfed the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm, west-central Russia, on December 5, 2009, killing more than 150 and injuring 160 people.
“Russia is flooded with counterfeit fireworks. Most of them come from China, but there are other countries involved,” Dmitry Polikanov, advisor to the Head of the Central Executive Committee at the United Russia party, told Russia Today, adding that the cheap, low-quality pyrotechnics caused the deadly fire.
The Lame Horse nightclub fire was one of the greatest disasters that occurred in Russia last year. It started when sparks from the fireworks ignited the low, plastic ceiling. The visitors died from smoke inhalation, burns and in the panic-induced stampede.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Global Times
Quarter Ton Counterfeit Caviar Confiscated from the Aircraft of Russia’s Largest Diamond Company
On December 23, 2009, approximately 220 kilograms of red salmon caviar of an unknown origin was confiscated at the Yakutsk Airport, in the city of Yakutsk in Eastern Siberia.
The caviar was packed into nine cardboard boxes and loaded into the rear end of an airplane belonging to ALROSA, world’s leading diamond miner. The plane was on its way to the city of Mirny, also in Eastern Siberia.
A few days earlier, the Yakutsk aviation security officials had received information from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk city officials to keep an eye out on this shipment.
The transit police in the Yakutia region, Siberia, is soon expected to initiate a criminal procedure. One airline employee has already been arrested on suspicion of loading the cargo onto the plane.
ALROSA Company Limited is one of the world’s leading companies in the field of diamond exploration, mining, manufacture and sales. It accounts for 97 percent of Russia’s diamond production, while its share in the global rough diamond production is 25 percent. The company has not given any comments regarding the issue.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: RIA Novosti
Russia Sets Minimum Vodka Price to Curb Counterfeit Alcohol Production
On January 1, 2010, Russia introduced a new minimum price for a vodka bottle in an effort to prevent the production and sale of counterfeit alcohol blamed for the deaths of thousands of people each year.
The lowest price of any half a liter vodka bottle is now approximately USD 3 (EUR 2). Officials hope that the move will help reduce alcohol abuse in the country, while also protecting Russia’s legal vodka producers.
For more information on this issue please go here or contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: RIA Novosti
The Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks Enters into Force with Respect to Russia
As reported by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), on September 18, 2009, Russia ratified the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, adopted in Singapore on March 27, 2006. The treaty entered into force on December 18, 2009.
The Singapore treaty establishes common, international standards for administrative trademark registration procedures.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: WIPO
December 22, 2009
Russian Gangs Make Millions by Selling Fake Tamiflu Online
An investigation by the British security company Sophos has revealed that Russian cyber criminals are making millions of dollars by selling counterfeit Tamiflu online.
Bogus online pharmacies, with names such as Canadian Pharmacy or European Pharmacy, carry forged copies of certificates guaranteeing authenticity. The Russian gangs are marketing their products by sending billions of spam messages selling Tamiflu, and other drugs.
In addition to paying money for useless or even dangerous drugs, the investigators say that customers are putting themselves at risk of identity fraud.
Sophos has discovered that the top five countries purchasing counterfeit Tamiflu are the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada and France and that cyber criminals make between EUR 11,240 (USD 16,386) and EUR 67,442 (USD 98,338) a day.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Times Online
French Champagne Producer Defends its Right to Cristal Trademark in Russia
French champagne producer Louis Roederer can continue to sell its Cristal champagne in Russia after it won a decision against the Russian vodka manufacturer Soyuzplodoimport.
Although Roederer obtained an international registration for Cristal in 1949 and a national registration in Russia in 1995, in April 2009, the Chamber of Patent Disputes ruled that Roederer’ Cristal infringed on Soyuzplodoimport’s vodka brand Kristal, which was registered in Russia in 1974.
Soyuzplodoimport argued that Roederer’s Cristal trademark registration should be cancelled because it is confusingly similar to its Kristal brand.
The court ruled that Soyuzplodoimport had missed the period for challenging Cristal’s trademark registration, which is five years from the date the trademark registration was granted.
On October 26, 2009, the Moscow Arbitration Court reversed this ruling and affirmed the legal protection of Cristal in Russia.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Marques
Microsoft Launches Anti-Piracy Program in Russia
On December 9, 2009, Microsoft Corporation launched a new program in Russia to protect Internet users against pirated software.
The Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool, which notifies customers that their system is not genuine, is to be supplied to several million Russian Internet users over the next few months.
The new program aims to reduce the number of pirated software on the market, raise awareness among Russian population and encourage them to make a conscious decision to switch to licensed software.
Microsoft loses about four billion dollars annually due to sales of pirate copies in Russia. About 60 percent of Russian users buy unlicensed software, with intention or by mistake.
The installation of WGA is optional. While validating, WGA collects no data to identify or contact user.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Vostok Media
Russia’s Textile Industry Grows After Shutdown of Counterfeit Goods Market
On June 29, 2009, the police shut down Russia’s largest marketplace, the Cherkizovsky Market in northeast Moscow, where thousands of Chinese vendors sold counterfeit goods.
This was done in an effort to curb the spread of fake goods and protect the Sino-Russian trade. The closedown of the market included the burning of 22 containers that reportedly contained illegally imported counterfeit products.
Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, stated on December 3, 2009 that since the closing of the Cherkizovsky Market in June, Russia’s apparel sector had grown by three percent, and the production of pants and suits increased by 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively. He continued to state in a televised interview: “We will never win as long as domestic manufacturers are hit by smuggled and counterfeit goods.”
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Source: Xinhuanet
November 24, 2009
Russia to Defend Kalashnikov Rights
Russia will step up action to protect the intellectual property rights of the Kalashnikov rifles, which are produced without license by dozens of manufacturers around the world.
There are about 100 million Kalashnikov assault rifles worldwide, of which half are counterfeit, i.e. produced without licenses, patents and intergovernmental agreements. As a result of counterfeit productions across the world, the brand has been tarnished and Russia has incurred financial losses. Russia is negotiating draft agreements with foreign producers of the weapon to protect the Kalashnikov, noting that China and a few Eastern European countries are prepared to negotiate such agreements.
During the Soviet era, Moscow signed 25-year license agreements with various communist satellites in Eastern Europe, authorizing them to produce Kalashnikovs. However, these agreements have expired.
Russian weapons manufacturer Izhmash, which produces the Kalashnikov, secured a state patent for this weapon in year 1997 and began pressing foreign manufacturers to respect its intellectual property.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
Russia To Start Priority Registration of Cyrillic Domain Names in .RF TLD
On November 25, 2009, Russia will start priority registration of Cyrillic domain names on behalf of trademark owners. The priority registration will end on March 25, 2010.
The domain name application must be based on a trademark which is in Cyrillic and which is valid on the date on which a domain name application is filed with the Russian Naming Authority.
The application should be submitted with a copy of the trademark certificate and a copy of the legal entity certificate or an entrepreneur registration certificate.
If the application is based on an International Registration, a certificate showing that the International Registration is valid in Russia should also be submitted.
For more information please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.
EPO To Help Russia Harmonize Patent Legislation with EU
On November 5, 2009, the European Patent Office (EPO) signed a contract with the European Commission to implement a EUR 500,000 (USD 748,000) project aimed at making the Russian patent legislation more uniform with EU legislation.
The project’s objective is to simplify Russia’s patent application, registration, and processing procedure, facilitate the teaching of Intellectual Property in Russia, and help develop patent guidelines that will be used by patent examiners at the Russian PTO (Rospatent).
This project will run over the next 12 months.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
October 21, 2009
Moscow Police Seize 200,000 Pirated DVDs
More than 200,000 counterfeit DVDs, worth more than 40 million rubles (USD 1.3 million, EUR 900,000) have recently been confiscated in a three-week operation targeting Moscow’s markets.
On September 24, 2009, a police spokesman stated that the authorities had carried out dozens of raids across the Russian capital, preventing the activities of several criminal groups. Twenty criminal cases have been opened since, targeting suspects in the sale of fake DVDs, including local cinemas and its employees.
For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
September 25, 2009
German Retailer Successfully Claims Its Trademark in Russia
After years of dispute, in July 2009, the Russian Chamber of Patent Disputes awarded the major German retailer, Aldi Einkauf GmbH (Aldi), the registration of the Aldi trademark.
This decision follows after a lengthy dispute between the German retailer and the local Russian company that registered Aldi mark in 2000, along with other brand names such as Forbes, Interbrand, Samsung, Audi, Bridgestone, etc.
Aldi Einkauf GmBH filed for the registration in summer 2008, when the Aldi trademark registration, belonging to the local Russian company, expired.
Nonetheless, the local Russian company filed for registration renewal in the fall 2008, after the Aldi Einkauf GmBH had already filed its application.
The Russian PTO granted the renewal to the local Russian company in the fall 2008, at which time Aldi Einkauf GmBH filed a cancellation action with the Russian Chamber of Patent Disputes.
In July 2009, the Chamber of Patent Disputes decided to grant the trademark to the German company.
RU MARKS, a company that specializes in trademark registration in Russia, announced that Aldi is now officially the registered mark owned by Aldi Einkauf GmBH in the following classes: 4, 7, 9, 38, 39 and 40. Four more applications are still pending, but are expected to be processed by the end of the year.
According to Vedomosti, the Russian daily business newspaper, Mr. Viktor Chernyshev, the owner of the local Russian company that used to hold the right to the mark Aldi, said in April 2008, that he does not see how he could have violated the rights of Aldi Einkauf GmbH. “How could I have violated any rights when the company is not present in the market? No company - no violation, ” he said, adding that he is always ready to negotiate.
Aldi stands for Albrecht Discount, as it was founded by brothers Theodore and Karl Albrecht. According to Forbes, Aldi’s turnover in 2007 was USD 67 billion.
For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic in our Balkan Regional Office.
July 21, 2009
Russian PTO Issues Clarification on Revocation Procedures for Non-Use of Trademarks
Due to the lack of clear criteria, see our May article, the Russian PTO has recently issued a list of guidelines in order to clarify what constitutes sufficient interest for filing a request for trademark revocation due to non-use.
According to the current Russian IP legislation, only interested third parties may file a revocation request against a registered trademark that has not been used in Russia for the goods or services it was registered for.
The Russian PTO determines sufficient and legitimate interest on a case-by-case basis, examining all presented evidence according to the following criteria.
Only persons that can legally apply for a trademark can file revocation requests. The following can register trademarks in Russia: legal entities (both commercial and non-commercial), and self-employed persons.
Patent attorneys, lawyers and any physical persons providing legal services or authorized to act on behalf of third parties are not considered to have legitimate interest.
The mere fact of filing a revocation request and paying corresponding official fees is not considered a proof of legitimate interest.
The mere fact that the applicant filed a trademark application that is confusingly similar to the trademark that is being revoked is not considered a sufficient proof of legitimate interest.
The purpose of the mandatory use of trademarks is to protect those who have expended time, effort, ingenuity and money to disseminate a mark and build up goodwill in relation to it. Accordingly, the following categories of persons may be considered to hold legitimate interest:
• Producers of goods and services labeled with the trademark that is being revoked, provided that they have a bona fide intention to use the mark in Russia.
• Holders of the company’s name (commercial and non-commercial organizations), which is identical or confusingly similar to the mark that is being revoked, if these companies provide the same services or produce and commercialize identical or similar goods to the goods and services covered by the trademark that is being revoked.
• Legal entities and self-employed persons that are proprietors of commercial designations that are confusingly similar or identical to the mark that is being revoked, provided that those persons undertake their commercial activities in relation to the goods and services that are identical or similar to the goods and services protected by the trademark that is being revoked.
• Owners of the similar or confusingly similar trademarks registered for similar or identical goods and services in other countries, provided that they intend to expand geographical scope of the protection of their marks to the territory of the Russian Federation.
The Russian Chamber of Patent Disputes (CPD) will analyze submitted documents to determine whether parties exhibit sufficient interest. If the party filing a revocation request fails to submit sufficient proof of legitimate interest, the revocation request will be rejected by the CPD.
For more information, please contact Alissia Shchichka in our Brussels office.
June 25, 2009
Estonia, Russia and Slovakia Accede and Ratify International IP Treaties
As reported by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Estonia, Russia and Slovakia have recently ratified various international IP treaties and conventions.
On May 12, 2009, Russia acceded to the Patent Law Treaty, adopted at Geneva on June 1, 2000. The Treaty will enter into force in Russia on August 12, 2009.
On the same day, Slovakia acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants as revised on March 19, 1991. The Convention entered into force in Slovakia on June 12, 2009.
On May 14, 2009, Estonia ratified the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, adopted at Singapore on March 27, 2006. The Treaty will enter into force in Estonia on August 14, 2009.
For more information, please contact Jovana Miocinovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
May 12, 2009
Russia Adopts Strict Position on Revocation Procedures for Non-Use of Trademarks
The Russian Chamber on Patent Disputes, an appeal body of the PTO, has recently adopted a strict position on trademark revocation procedures.
As of January 1, 2009, the Chamber began rejecting revocation requests that could not be substantiated.
Russia’s strict new practice was caused by the high number of revocation requests filed in bad faith, with the sole intention of blackmailing legitimate trademark holders, who may prefer to pay a certain amount of money rather than go through cumbersome proceedings to prove use.
Under the previous Russian Trademark Law, any person could file a request for trademark revocation if such a trademark had not been used for a continuous period of three years.
After the new Russian IP legislation came into force on January 1, 2008, only interested persons were allowed to file revocation requests. However, the law did not define “an interested person.”
As of today, there is still no clear definition of what constitutes sufficient interest to file a request for trademark revocation due to non-use.
Since there are no clear guidelines, it is recommended that parties requesting revocation prove that they produce and/or market the trademarked goods in Russia, or have a bona fide intention to do so.
This can be proved with invoices, customs declarations, advertising materials, marketing research, dealers and distributors contracts and any other documents evidencing that applicants’ goods and services have been, or are intended to be released into the Russian market.
In addition, it is recommended that those requesting revocation submit samples of product packaging, labeled with the trademark in question.
For more information, please contact Alissia Shchichka in our Brussels office.
April 14, 2009
Russian Law on Patent Attorneys Enters into Force
The Law on Patent Attorneys entered into force in the Russian Federation on March 31, 2009. It aims to improve legislative provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights, and it specifies the requirements that patent attorneys must meet.
Accordingly, patent attorneys need to validate their qualifications by registering with the Roster of Patent Attorneys of the Russian Federation and by earning an appropriate certificate.
They should also be permanent residents of the Russian Federation, hold a university degree and show at least four years of professional experience. They are entitled to be self-employed or to work as contracted employees.
In addition, the law allows patent attorneys to establish public unions and self-regulated organizations.
Persons whose activities were discontinued by a court decision, and who were removed from the Roster of Patent Attorneys, cannot be attested as patent attorneys. Civil and municipal servants cannot register as patent attorneys either.
For more information, please contact Jovana Miocinovic in our Balkan Regional Office.
February 16, 2007
Russian School Headmaster Found Guilty for Using Pirated Microsoft Software But No Penalty Imposed
Judge declares Microsoft’s loss was insignificant compared with its overall earnings.
While the headmaster was found guilty of installing Microsoft software on 12 school computers, the judge found that the estimated $9700 damage to Microsoft was insignificant.
The case has been closely watched as a test of how Russia will enforce IP rights as it moves closer to the WTO membership. To the Russian public the headmaster, who like most academics in Russia gets by on a small salary and was facing a five year sentence if convicted, became a local hero. The case even drew attention of President Vladimir Putin who called the case “utter nonsense.”
For more information on IP protection in Russia, please contact Tanja Diklic. For more information on this particular news piece, please go here.
October 22, 2004
Russia Amends its Copyright Law
Copyright law amendments bring Russia's IP legislation in line with its Constitution, as well as with various international agreements.
A number of amendments to the Russian Federal Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights were recently adopted in order to bring the Intellectual Property legislation of Russia in line with its Constitution, as well as with various international agreements such as the Berne Convention, TRIPS, WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
The amendments entered into force on July 28, 2004, with the exception of those articles that relate to the right of making the copyright work available to the public via the Internet, which are expected to enter into force on September 1, 2006.
One of the most important amendments is the extension of the term of copyright protection. The present law extends the former maximum term of the copyright from the life of the author plus 50 years to the life of the author plus 70 years. Foreign authors will now enjoy the same term of protection in Russia as they enjoy in their own country.
In addition, the new amendments improve and strengthen the remedies for copyright infringement. Copyright holders will now be able to demand higher compensation, from approximately 340 USD to 170,000 USD, instead of seeking damages, which are generally very difficult to determine.
The new Law also prohibits actions aiming at the circumvention of technical copy protection systems and devices.
For more information on the changes to the Russian copyright law, please contact our Russia representative.