300 trademarks hijacked
More than 300 trademarks are involved, according to a recent study published by two Americans, Irene Calboli, a professor at Texas A&M University School of Law and Vera Sevastianova, a PhD student at the Hanken School of Economics.
Copy and parody
Some registered trademarks are exact copies of the actual trademark, and others are more of a parody or look-alike. The research shows that two companies and a single individual are responsible for half of the applications.
What does Putin do?
Rospatent, the Russian trademark office, has yet to process the applications. According to Russian trademark law, Rospatent should refuse all these registrations because they are too similar to existing registered trademarks. It all depends, of course, on Putin’s instructions to Rospatent.
Bas Kist
This article was previously published in the Volkskrant.
