At the RF CCI, a meeting of the working group on improving the legislation on intellectual property and law enforcement practice was held

On February 17, 2022, a meeting of the Working Group of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on improving the legislation on intellectual property and law enforcement practice was held.
The meeting of the group was chaired by the head of the group Sergey Zuykov. Members of the working group Oksana Beresneva, Inna Polyanskaya, Ekaterina Tkach took part in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by more than 140 invited experts and listeners, including a representative of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) Roman Zakharov.
On the issue of clause 1.1. On amendments to Art. 1475 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation "The effect of the exclusive right to a company name on the territory of the Russian Federation" to prohibit the protection of "descriptive" company names, reports by I. Polyanskaya, S. Zuykov were heard. In the reports, the panelists made a proposal to introduce provisions into the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, obliging the courts to check for the "protectability" of a prohibited company name.
At the discussion under clause 2.1. in the reports of E. Tkach and O. Beresneva, proposals on changing approaches to the assessment of evidence when considering disputes over the non-use of trademarks were presented.
On the clause of paragraph 2.2. Development of measures against illegal obtaining/acquisition of rights to trademarks, as well as obtaining/acquisition of rights to trademarks due to unfair competition, S. Zuykov proposed the following: to recommend Rospatent refusing the registration of a new application due to discrepancy with clause 3 of art. 1483 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (consumer misrepresentation) if Rospatent has information that the applicant or a person affiliated with him has abused the rights in protecting the rights to his trademarks more than a certain number of times (for example, 3 times).
It was also proposed to recommend to the Intellectual Property Court to consider the proposal to refuse the claim of an unfair person if there is information that this person has already been denied a claim for the protection of rights to his other trademarks more than a certain number (for example, 3 times). In particular, the courts may use a different set of actions of an unfair right holder carrying out real business activities.
All proposals will be summarized and sent to the Intellectual Property Court as well as the state authorities.
Source: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation
Broadcast of the meeting via link