Intellectual property in Crimea

Here we

are! :)

Geographically

Ukraine’s position

‘The Crimea remains the

part of Ukraine’

Law ‘On Ensuring Rights, Freedoms

and Legal Status of Temporarily

Occupied Territories of Ukraine’.

Russian position

Federal Constitutional Law ‘On Admitting the Republic of

the Crimea to the Russian Federation and on Establishing

the New Constituent Entities of the Republic of the Crimea

and Sevastopol as the city of Federal Importance’.

Russian position

Next was letter of Rospatent (Patent Office of Russian

Federation), which contained information on the recognition of

the exclusive rights to industrial property, certification of

compliance with security documents of Ukraine, on the territory

of Russia

The Russian Parliament has already submitted a draft Federal

Law N 558302-6 ‘On Amending the Federal Law On the

Implementation of Part IV of the Civil Code’

Possibilities according to Federal Law

1) The possibility of individuals (permanent residents) who have applied for the registration of IP

objects in Ukrainian Patent Office, but have not yet received a title of protection in Ukraine - to

apply to the RF retaining the priority date for the filing of the application in Ukraine.

2) Recognition the rights to IP object on the territory of the Russian Federation, certified by

official documents of Ukraine.

This recognition will be extended to those objects that belonged to individuals who live in the Crimea and have received Russian

citizenship; or legal entities have registered in the Crimea and have submitted the application for entering information about them

in the USR legal entities of the Russian Federation.

Risks

-risks of absence of IP protection in the Crimea;

-risks of being accused of IP infringement. For instance, in

case the similar trademark is registered on behalf of third

party in the Russian Federation;

-impossibility to import products to the territory of the

Crimea;

-impossibility to perform license agreement, subject matter

of which is IP usage in the Crimea

The owner of TM exclusive right

In Russian Federation

-legal entity

-sole trader

In Ukraine

-any individual

-legal entity.

Objects of utility model

By the Ukrainian law

objects of utility models are: a product (device,

substance, microorganism strain, cell culture of

plants and animals), and a process (method), and

also a new use of a known product or process.

In Russian Federation

as a utility model can be a

protected technical solution

related only to a device

Recommendations

1. To conduct trademark, design and patent searches in

order to estimate risks of being violated in infringing

Russian IP rights;

2. If possible, to file applications for registering

trademark, design, invention and utility model. But

even IP objects are not disclosed, we need to pay

attention to such criteria of design, invention, utility

model protection as novelty.

Recommendations

3. If, due to the search, we understand, that we can not

register IP object we can:

- recognize a trademark as well-known in the Russian

Patent Office.

4. To establish the right of prior use. The main problem in

this case is that the Civil Code of Russian Federation

constitutes the right of prior use only invention, utility

model and design, but not trademark.

Develop your own

strategy of IP protection

Thank you for being with us

Patent Law Company IPStyle