How the increase in fees will affect the registration of trademarks in Russia – pros and cons

On October 4, 2025, amendments to the Regulation on Patent and Other Fees, including those related to the state registration of trademarks, came into force. In particular, the rules for calculating the state fee for registering a trademark and extending the term of the exclusive right to it have changed. In this article, we will show how the new approach to calculating fees can affect the dynamics of registration and renewal, as well as consider the pros and cons of the innovations for potential applicants and right holders.

How the amount of the state duty was calculated before the changes

Previously, the final amount of the state duty depended on the number of classes of the Nice Classification in respect of which the trademark was registered. Thus, in addition to the basic state duty, an additional fee was charged for each class of the Nice Classification, more than one, for which registration of the designation as a trademark was requested.

Thus, in order to optimize the cost of paying the fee, it was enough for the applicant to choose classes that really corresponded to his current activities and took into account the further strategy of business development, and the positions in the class themselves were often not carefully selected, but indicated in a continuous manner "in reserve".

How the calculation of the amount of the state duty has changed

Under the new rules, the calculation of the state duty both for the registration of a trademark and for the extension of the right to a mark is calculated not only on the basis of the number of selected classes of the Nice Classification, but also taking into account the number of items selected by the applicant. So, for each item in one class of the Nice Classification, over 10, you will need to pay a fee of 500 rubles.

Thus, the cost of paying the state duty may increase significantly, since now its final amount depends, among other things, on the total volume of items selected by the applicant - goods and services in respect of which legal protection is sought.

However, despite the complication of the calculation of the duty, the legislator believes that this approach will have a positive economic effect. As follows from the explanatory note to the draft law, "linking" the amount of fees to the number of items in the list of goods and services will exclude the registration and renewal of trademarks without the intention to use them. This applies not only to situations related to the registration of marks for the purpose of their unfair use, but also to cases of registration "in reserve" in the absence of specific intentions, etc.

In this regard, the current change in the procedure for calculating state fees can be assessed as the optimization of the institution of legal protection of trademarks, which is based, among other things, on the successful experience of other countries. For example, in China, an additional fee has long been charged for each position over 10.

How the changes affect the dynamics of registrations and renewals

The previous increase in fees for trademark registration, including the abolition of the 30% discount for electronic filing of documents, fell on the period when amendments to Article 1477 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation had already entered into force. So, if earlier the law allowed only legal entities and individual entrepreneurs to register trademarks, then since June 2023, all individuals without the status of individual entrepreneurs have received this right. including the self-employed, lawyers, etc.

Thus, despite the increase in fees in 2024, the number of applications for the registration of trademarks in Russia has increased: according to Rospatent, more than 137 thousand applications were filed during 2024, which is 12% more than in 2023. At the same time, more than half of all applications were filed by individuals - self-employed and individual entrepreneurs.

This trend shows the high demand for the institution of trademarks (including among small businesses) and suggests that the current change in the calculation of fees itself will not have a significant impact on the registration activity of applicants in relation to new trademarks, but will affect the choice of the number of protected positions.

A similar situation is expected for the extension of legal protection – applicants will extend the term of the trademark only for those goods and services with which they actually work, and will not extend protection for "reserve" positions, unless it is dictated by the strategy for the development and protection of the business.

Pros and cons of the new approach to calculating duties

The most obvious disadvantage of the new procedure for calculating state fees is an increase in the cost of registering a trademark and extending its validity period if it is necessary to protect a significant number of positions in the ICGS class. Therefore, the main task of applicants who want to optimize the cost of registration is to carefully and accurately select the list of goods (services) in respect of which protection is requested.

Large companies, as a rule, have specific brand strategies that take into account both current activities and the prospects for business development and protection based on market analysis (consumer needs, competitors' activities, etc.). The presence of such a strategy makes it possible to determine in advance a specific list of goods and services and stages of registration, taking into account the projected economic effect from changes in the product line and the costs of registration procedures.

However, in order to minimize costs, small and medium-sized businesses will have to either seriously work on limiting the choice of positions (up to 10 relevant in each class), or develop a strategy and act on it, which in any case will require contacting professionals.

As for the practical advantages, it is assumed that the reduction in the volume of declared commodity items will eventually reduce the time for the examination of applications and affect its quality, since the examiners of the office will no longer have to check hundreds of goods (services) specified "in reserve" for overlap with existing registrations.

Summarizing the above, we emphasize that the increase in the number of applications affected the increase in fees - now it is necessary to work with the list of goods and services as carefully as possible, because for the calculation it is important not only how many classes are declared, but also how large/long the list of goods/services within each class of the ICGS is.

It should be noted that the approach to how Rospatent will count positions in class headings is not fully understood. For example, if the applicant includes in the list a generic entry from the heading of class 03 of the ICGS class "Cosmetics and toilet non-medical" or "bleaching preparations and other laundry detergents", will this be counted as one item of goods or two inside quotation marks?

Time will tell how events will develop.