Russia is Fastest-Growing Trademark-Protecting Country Globally According to Intellectual Property Analysis from Thomson Reuters

EAGAN, Minn., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Brand protection in Russia is on the rise, according to a detailed intellectual property report titled Trademarks in Russia: Growing Opportunities, Major Challenges, released by the Thomson CompuMark business of Thomson Reuters today. Russian trademark registrations increased by 46 percent from 2004 to 2009, the largest increase of any major trademark-protecting country worldwide. This is in comparison to China and the United States, which saw an increase in registrations of 3 and 6 percent, respectively, for that same period.

In addition to a detailed statistical analysis of trademark registrations, objections and claims conducted using the Thomson Reuters SAEGIS database, the report outlines the history of trademark law in Russia, featuring expert perspectives from Eugene A. Arievich of the CIS Intellectual Property Practice Group, and Pavel Gorokhov, Counsel at the Moscow office of Baker & McKenzie.  

Following are some of the key observations of the report:

• Trademark Registrations Rapidly Expanding: Despite the geographic, political and linguistic complexity of the Russian market, trademark registrations increased by 46 percent between 2004 and 2009; a total of 36,436 trademarks were registered in the region in 2009, signaling Russia's growing prominence as a viable commercial market for the world's manufacturers.

• Cyrillic Alphabet Poses Challenges: Some letters that look identical to those in the Latin alphabet are pronounced completely differently in the Cyrillic alphabet, making it important for those filing trademarks in Russia to register marks using both the Cyrillic spelling and its Latin equivalent. According to Russian trademark law and practice, trademark similarity is established on the basis of a combination of phonetic, visual and semantic criteria.

"As the world's leading provider of global trademark solutions, Thomson CompuMark keeps its finger on the pulse of international trademark trends, so our clients can stay on the cutting edge of brand development and emerging markets," said Martin Burke, general manager of Thomson CompuMark. "And with SAEGIS, our premiere trademark search solution, customers are confident they are accessing the most complete coverage of trademark information globally. With collections from more than 200 countries, including the Russian Federation, SAEGIS enables IP professionals to quickly find the information they need for critical brand decisions – all from a single source."

The data in this report was compiled using SAEGIS to identify trends in trademark applications, registrations, objections and claims between 2004 and 2009.

To view the full report, Trademarks in Russia: Growing Opportunities, Major Challenges, go to http://ip.thomsonreuters.com/RussiaTMreport/.

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SOURCE Thomson Reuters Thomson CompuMark