Trademark registration in Russia

Trademark Office in Russia

• Name of Office: Rospatent
• Address: Berejkovskaya nab., 30, Moscow
• Phone number: + 7 (499) 240 6015

Office applies current version of Nice Classification, you can find acceptable goods and services in this link.

Our experienced local Russian Attorney from a leading IP law firm will prepare and file your trademark for registration in the country. Trademarks are filed at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (Rospatent), Russia uses the “first-to-file” policy. No evidence of use is required upon filing of a trademark application.

Services & Payment

We offer the following services in the Russian Federation:

• Trademark Search
• Free Basic Trademark Search in the Russian Trademark Database of Rospatent
• Trademark Registration
• Trademarking your brand in Russia
• Trademark renewal
• Trademark oppositions. In Russia, an opposition can be filed by any person at any moment before the trademark is registered. Oppositions on relative grounds may be filed within 5 years after the registration date.
• Defenses in case of oppositions or objections/office actions in the Russian Federation
• Trademark assignment
• Change of name/Change of Address

If you are interested in any of these services, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We accept payments by card (VISA and MasterCard) and by bank transfer to our account in USD, JPY,  GBP, and EURO. All fees must be paid upfront.

Trademark registration in Russia: Requirements

Russia is a first to file country. Our attorney in Russia will not require a Power of Attorney to file your trademark in the country. The Russian Federation Trademark and Patent Office (Rospatent) uses the Nice Classification to determine the description of products and services and you may mention as many products and services in your application as you wish, provided that they fall into one class. Custom description (non-standardized) description may be used, however, the Trademark Office may refuse such application, thus, we recommend using the standard description. If the brand name includes non-Cyrillic letters, they must be transliterated into Cyrillic and foreign words have to be translated into Russian. The name of the applicant and applicant’s address shall be transliterated into Cyrillic as well.

Trademark registration: Procedure

Office examines international registrations on absolute and relative grounds.

List of grounds for refusing protection:

• Absolute grounds: refer to Article 1483 (1-5) of the Russian Civil Code.
• Relative grounds: refer to Article 1483 (6-7), (9(3)), and (10) of the Russian Civil Code.

A straightforward trademark registration process takes 12-14 months. Our attorney will file your trademark within 5 business days, after receiving the required documents and details. Trademarking in Russia involves a formal examination, an examination of distinctiveness and a trademark search for registered trademarks. A regular registration process takes around 14 months in Russia.

• Filing – 3 days
• Formal examination – 4 months
• Comparative examination – 5 months
• Registration – 3 month

You will have 2 months to pay the final fee after the date of approval of your trademark. Should you miss the deadline, this term may be restored within six months paying an extra fee. There is no “publication period” as in other countries. The brands are not published prior to registration and it’s impossible to oppose any application in Russia. Only registered trademarks are made public and many Watch Services will show only registered trademarks.  After registration, the mark and the main data on it are published in the Trademark Bulletin of the Patent Office. The mark is published only if registered, there is no official opposition procedure prior to registration.

A trademark registration is valid for 10 years starting from the filing date. The trademark should be put in use within 3 years following the registration date.

Free Trademark Search in Russia

The Russian Database of Trademarks available here, please contact us if you wish to get a free search for identical Russian trademarks. Trademark Availability Search (trademark lookup in Russia) can be performed online or can be requested on our webpage. However, please note that using the free trademark database you are likely to miss the trademarks in Cyrillic which are phonetically identical but will not be shown as a direct hit during the free trademark search.

The public database contains only published trademarks in Russia and as the published trademarks are already registered, you will not be able to find any pending trademarks online. You can request our Extensive Study and our attorney will perform a trademark search for registered and pending trademarks. She will provide you with the probability of registration of your trademark in Russia.

Our experienced attorney will perform a throughout trademark search to determine any potentially conflicting brands in Russia.

Use of ® and TM, SM

If registered, use the ® symbol after your Russian trade mark.  If not yet registered, you may use TM for goods or SM for services, however, since the Russian Federation is not a “first to use” country, it will not grant you any common law rights.

Trademark assignment (transfer): Requirements

A power of attorney signed by the assignor, a signed original copy of the assignment contract and a power of attorney signed by the assignee. Additional documents might be required.

Note, that the price for a registration request, in this case, does not include the final certification fees. The prices do not include any legal defenses in case of oppositions or objections.

Use of a Trademark in Russia

During the examination stage, it’s not important if the trademark is used or not used in Russia. The trademark can be canceled if it is not used during 5 consequent years if anyone files an appeal in connection with non-use of the mark during five years from the registration, or within five years, preceding such an appeal.

Cancellation procedure is rather cost-effective in Russia, therefore, in some cases, it’s easier to cancel a conflicting trademark than to respond to the “likelihood of confusion” objections provided that the conflicting mark was not in use.

The burden of proving that the mark was in use lies on the trademark owner. In case of a cancellation request, the Trademark Office of Russia will inform the owner demanding to submit evidence of use of the trademark in Russia. Should the owner ignore such request, the trademark will be cancelled.

Registration Process in Russia