In today's situation in Russia, the monitoring of IP rights becomes extremely important. This is not the first time, when IP right holders are facing the risks of possible IP piracy. In the early 2000s, we had to fight mass trademark squatting. Many trademark owners were successful in that fight; however, that required many efforts and resources.

Currently, we are dealing with a significant number of unfair trademark filings. A recent example of unfair and unacceptable trademark application is “Christian Dior” (Russian TM application No. 2022716533), filed in class 03 by Smart Beauty Ltd., which seems to have no relationship with Parfums Christian Dior. And it is very unlikely that Smart Beauty made the filing on behalf of Parfums Christian Dior. I do not believe that such a trademark would be allowed for registration by the Russian IP office, because it would contradict the Civil Code. This is not a single case, and such filings show absolute neglect and disregard of IP rights by owners of these fraudulent applications. It is important for the brand owners to show their attention to their IP rights and inform the authorities that such applications should be rejected.

Nowadays, we have all the technical tools for efficient trademark monitoring as well as sufficient legal instruments to prevent fraudulent registrations. Proactive preventing piracy might be much more efficient, rather than trying to recover trademarks over time, when the business environment improves and brand owners restart their operations and activities on the local market, which will certainly happen sooner or later.

Under the circumstances, we believe it is necessary to:

• maintain IP rights in Russia, since all due dates established for IP subject matters are relevant in Russia and must be attended in time;
• file the necessary applications and update the IP portfolio;
• monitor the core brands and by filing observation letters prevent registration of unfair filings in the name of third parties, who are trying to use the fame and reputation of famous brands.