Trademark cancellation

What you need to know about revoking a trademark?

To begin with, it should be noted that the cancellation of a trademark as such is not clearly indicated in Russian legislation. That is, this concept cannot be classified as legal. However, in law enforcement practice, it is often found. Entrepreneurs use it even more often.

Cancellation of a trademark means the following:

• cancellation of registration of exclusive rights to a trademark due to the fact that this procedure was carried out with serious violations;
• cancellation of the legal protection regime due to the fact that the trademark has not been used for a long time (according to Russian law, 3 years or more must pass).

It should be noted that we are talking about 2 different procedures. And they are the most common. Consequently, when they talk about the cancellation of a trademark, in most cases they mean it.

However, the cancellation of a trademark is also possible in such cases:

• liquidation of the copyright holder. This is relevant in cases where a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur officially ceased their activities, but at the same time the transfer of exclusive rights to the intellectual property object did not take place. In this case, any interested person has the right to submit an application to Rospatent for early cancellation. Consideration of such an application usually takes 5 months. Usually, a positive decision is made based on the results;
• the designation became widely used. In fact, a trademark is simply beginning to refer to a specific group of products. Xerox is a prime example. In this case, the designation ceases to play the role of a discriminator for an ordinary consumer;
• the transfer of trademark rights has occurred in a way that misleads consumers. Sometimes the holder of rights for a particular trademark is of great importance. For example, he must have a certain profession or appropriate training. However, it is also possible to obtain the right to an intellectual property object through the inheritance mechanism or, for example, during the reorganization of a legal entity. But then the consumer will be misled. It is the client who can sue. However, he will have to prove the fact of being misled by such a transfer of the right to a trademark.

As you can see, there are objectively many reasons for canceling a trademark. And the order of actions depends on what is directly discussed. In some cases, it is necessary to contact Rospatent. For example, there is a Chamber for Patent Disputes, where you can appeal against illegal registration. There is also an Intellectual Property Court. Through it, you can also achieve the abolition of the legal protection regime if you think that it was provided unlawfully.

In some cases, it is worth submitting an application to an arbitration court. This is especially true when a dispute arises between the parties.

Unfair competition

In recent years, mechanisms for revoking trademark rights have begun to be actively used for unfair competition. And this is happening more and more often. Recently, the Intellectual Property Court has rejected such applications in the hundreds.

The fact is that there is no clear mechanism for bringing to justice for the obvious abuse of their rights. And in the field of protection of rights to intellectual property objects in general, many questions arise. Therefore, if you have become a victim of such a claim, if you run the risk of suffering if it is satisfied, it makes sense to turn to lawyers. With experienced professionals, you can both revoke the rights to a trademark, if they were issued with violations, and defend your own interests.