Trademark Law amended to prevent piracy

Changes to the Russian Trademark Law have come into force. The State Duma approved the amendments last October in an effort to curb the rise in trademark piracy. The amendments - which bring Russia one step closer to joining the World Trade Organization - draw a clear line between genuine and counterfeit goods, and toughen the penalties for counterfeiting.

The amendments include the following:

• The definition of 'infringement', set out in Article 4, now includes the unauthorized use of a trademark on product labels and packaging.
  
  
• The unauthorized use of a registered trademark in a domain name is prohibited. This is the first time that the registration of domain names has been regulated.
  
  
• It is now possible to obtain an order for the removal of trademarks from the packaging of counterfeit goods or from the product itself, for the destruction of the counterfeit goods (at the expense of the counterfeiter), or for the counterfeit goods to be handed over to the trademark owner.

Vladimir Biriulin, Gorodissky & Partners, Moscow