Russia Suspends Intellectual Property Protection for Nationals of Unfriendly Countries
Including South Korea, the US, and 48 Others
Effectively Close to 'Confiscation'... Government Urgently Needs to Respond
Just four days after McDonald's announced the temporary closure of all its stores in Russia to condemn Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a company filed a trademark application similar to the McDonald's trademark. Another applicant also filed a trademark application for the McDonald's name written in Cyrillic script, and there was even an attempt to file a trademark under the name McDuck.
As Russia announced it would stop protecting the intellectual property rights of nationals from unfriendly countries in response to Western economic sanctions, 4,800 patents and trademarks owned by Korean nationals are at risk of unauthorized use. In fact, trademark applications similar to those of brands from unfriendly countries continue to be filed, and as the damage to rights holders is becoming a reality, there are calls for the government to proactively consider legal and diplomatic responses.
According to the Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute on the 11th, Russia announced the list of countries taking unfriendly measures against the Russian Federation, corporations, and individuals through Federal Government Resolution No. 430-p6 last month. The unfriendly countries include 48 countries in total, including Korea, the United States, and Japan.
The gist of the resolution includes special economic sanctions, temporary economic measures, export controls against unfriendly countries, and the use without consent or compensation of inventions, utility models, and industrial designs owned by nationals of unfriendly countries.
The Intellectual Property Research Institute pointed out, "The resolution includes adjusting the compulsory license compensation for patent holders to 0%," adding, "This could lead to immediate infringement of patent holders' property rights."
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as of 2020, there are 3,951 valid patents and 819 registered trademarks owned by Korean nationals in Russia. If Russia's intellectual property sanctions intensify, the intellectual property rights of Korean nationals are highly likely to be infringed.
The institute predicted that measures abolishing protection such as unauthorized use of intellectual property rights could continue even after the Ukraine crisis. This is because the Russian government is continuing to discuss additional legal measures that weaken foreign intellectual property protection, including the seizure of assets owned by foreign companies leaving Russia.
In fact, lawsuits for damages against those who have unlawfully used characters (trademarks) of trademark holders from unfriendly countries in Russia have been dismissed, and applications for trademarks similar to brands from unfriendly countries continue to be filed.
The Intellectual Property Research Institute expressed deep concern especially about the 'zero guarantee of compulsory license' measure related to rights holders from unfriendly countries (Resolution No. 299). This measure applies a 0% compensation rate based on the actual profits of the licensee from exercising intellectual property rights for compulsory licenses on patents, utility models, and industrial designs. This not only infringes on individuals' property rights but can also be considered a legal expropriation of foreign property. It is tantamount to the Russian government effectively 'confiscating' the intellectual property rights of nationals from unfriendly countries.
Jeon Jeong-hwa, a senior researcher at the Global Legal Policy Research Office of the Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute, said, "We need to carefully examine the legal issues of the resolution and explore what responses our government can take," adding, "It is necessary to focus on whether there is a violation of the 'compulsory license' from an intellectual property law perspective and whether there is a violation of 'international agreements' from an international law perspective."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
