Clips from the Russian Press

Unofficial translation

The Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) has prepared an amendment to the Law on Trademarks, in accordance with which trademarks, created in the USSR and registered in the Russian Federation after January 1, 1992, can be transformed into collective marks or compliance marks.

General Director of the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks Alexander Korchagin said Monday in Moscow that the matter in question is intellectual property which was created in Soviet times at the expense of state funds.  Some of the trademarks, which were registered in the name of one of manufacturers, effectively represent a type of good.

Consumers don’t associate such goods as for example zhigulyovskoye beer with a specific manufacturer, Rospatent Chief said.  This also constitutes the reason for increasingly frequent legal suits against the “new owners” of trademarks lodged by other manufacturers of the same products.  For instance, over 400 breweries in Russia produce beer under the trademark Zhigulyovskoye Pivo, he explained.

According to the suggested amendment, the owner who registered a trademark after January 1, 1992 can voluntarily transform the trademark into a collective mark, a compliance mark, or a certification mark.  The transformation of the trademark into the compliance mark will be registered by Gosstandart, which will control the product’s compliance with the Russian State Standard Specifications (GOSTs) with participation of the former individual owner of the trademark.

Alexander Korchagin said that the objective of the amendment to the Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods” is, in particular, to protect the rights of producers and foreign investors, who have invested significant sums into trademarks.

Alexander Korchagin specified that the draft law will be submitted to the State Duma in the fourth quarter of 2000 and is likely to be considered by the deputies in spring of 2001.

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Unofficial translation

Rospatent thinks that it is necessary to transform trademarks into compliance marks to avoid losing them.  General Director of the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks made this suggestion today at a roundtable discussion.

According to him, the situation with trademarks became rather confusing in the process of transferring state enterprises “into other hands, including private.”  Korchagin stated that effectively in times of the USSR trademarks never were such.  They were only designations of a type of a product manufactured by different enterprises.  For example, over 400 breweries produced Zhigulyovskoye Pivo beer, Korchagin said.  He informed that the accelerated pace of privatization resulted in conflicts, when some manufacturers of products tried to register trademarks as their own.  Korchagin believes that in order to attain a strict interpretation of the Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”, which is currently being prepared for approval by the State Duma, it is necessary to specify that the owners of such trademarks may register them as compliance marks.

He did not rule out the possibility of registering “collective trademarks.”  New compliance mark or “collective trademark” may continue its existence in a new legal status, Rospatent Chief thinks.  If no such decision is taken and enterprises don’t have sufficient evidence to prove their right to register a certain trademark, arbitration courts will continue issuing decisions to cancel them, which leads to significant losses, including those of financial nature.

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Unofficial translation

Rospatent categorically refutes its participation in attempts to nationalize trademarks.  The General Director of the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks, Alexander Korchagin, made this statement today at a roundtable devoted to the problems of trademark registration and legislative basis in this sphere.

According to Korchagin, the situation in this sector of ownership relations has become significantly confusing due to the fact that the country underwent a transition to ownership relations unprecedented elsewhere in the world.  The state, Korchagin said, put its property “into other hands, including private.”  But there was no time to find solutions regarding ownership right registration, neither in the sphere of intellectual property nor of trademarks.  At first, Rospatent was abolished, but re-established a few years later.  Now, legislative initiatives regulating legal relations in this sphere, which over that period of time were submitted to the State Duma, are once again under discussion in Ministries and agencies.

In particular, according to Korchagin, a number of mass media outlets, obviously in the light of another law – on nationalization – which is currently under development, have informed that Rospatent lobbies an amendment to the Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”, stipulating nationalization of all the trademarks that once belonged to the state.  Korchagin made a firm statement that Rospatent is not trying to attain any such objectives.  Rospatent, its Chief said, holds a principally different position and believes that a trademark is an integral, “inalienable part of property.”  If a firm acquired property from the state on legal basis, it’s necessary to recognize that trademark was also acquired on legal basis, Korchagin thinks.  The rest is up to arbitration courts, Rospatent Chief underscored.

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Unofficial translation

Rospatent has developed amendments to the law on trademarks.  Alexander Korchagin, the General Director of the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks informed today at a round-table discussion that the agency has prepared a number of amendments to the Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”, including introduction of the so-called compliance marks.  Korchagin explained that “it is done so that the owners of trademarks, which were used in Soviet times, could apply to Gosstandart with a request to transform the trademark into a “compliance mark”, should any conflicts emerge.”  According to Alexander Korchagin, branch ministries and agencies will sell rights to use such trademarks.  He said:  “Rospatent’s amendments will be considered in the next few days at a meeting of an interagency commission.”  However many business leaders think that introduction of a new mechanism will only complicate the situation, as enterprises invest significant funds into trademark development and object to the situation when any claimant can purchase the trademark.  Instead, they suggest introducing a collective mark to be owned by a group of enterprises on a contractual basis.  However, no legislation in this sphere has been developed yet.