Russian government official discusses unfair competition and IP strategy

An official from the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), a federal executive body, has spoken about the legal approaches of combatting unfair competition and protecting intellectual property rights.

Nikolai Kartashov, head of the department for control over advertising and unfair competition at FAS, was a speaker at the “Intellectual property law as an object of unfair competition” conference, organised by FAS, on November 11.

Kartashov “emphasised” methods of protecting against unfair competition with regard to IP rights, including combatting parasitic competition.

According to Kartashov, FAS is the only body in Russia that has implemented and administered this form of countering unfair competition.

Additionally, Kartashov said that according to a position taken by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in December last year, not only selling and exchanging goods but introducing them in any way that unlawfully uses IP constitutes unfair competition.

He added that, as a result, producing, offering for sale, demonstrating goods at fairs and exhibitions, and placing marks on a website that are similar to a rights owner’s can be classified as violations.