Russia jurisdiction report: A new system to rival Madrid?
The new trademark system is created within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and is based on the “Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (Protocol for the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights”. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia are the current member states.
The EAEU introduces the concept of free movement of goods, capital, services and people and aims at economic integration and a customs union among the member states, similar to the system in the EU.
The integration process required changes to existing national legislation, in addition to trademark registration rules. This was particularly true for customs integration and the registration of IP rights at the customs union. The idea of a unified Eurasian trademark system arose during this legislative work a few years ago.
What is a Eurasian trademark?
The agreement relating to the Eurasian trademark system has been signed, but there are a few practical issues still to be decided before the system enters into force.
It’s planned that the system will begin operating after 2020 when instructions, rules for the implementation of the overall process, and technological documents will be adopted. No exact time has yet been published.
We know that the system is similar to the Madrid Agreement concerning the registration of international trademarks. The Eurasian trademark is based on the idea of “one application, one registration”, with one registration covering several countries. However, there are also differences between these systems.
Similarities include:
