The Russian Patent and Trade Mark Agency ("Rospatent") has adopted an Order approving Rules for the recognition of well-known marks, with a view to implementing the provisions of Article 6 bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The new Rules entered into force on June 18, 2000 and provide that an application for recognition that a trademark is well-known in Russia be considered by the Board of the Supreme Patent Chamber of Rospatent. In such application, the applicant is required to indicate the date on which he considers that his mark become well-known in Russia and to furnish information showing that the mark is well-known and this may include the following:

After this information has been reviewed and a trademark is recognized as well-known, it is recorded in a list of well-known trademarks. The list provides the name of the owner of the mark, the date of registration, the date the trademark was recognized as well-known and a list of the goods and/or services in respect of which it has become recognized as well-known.

Trademarks which have been recognized as well-known are expected to serve as the bases for (a) the refusal to register a third party's mark, regardless of the respective goods and/or services covered; (b) holding that the registration of a trademark of another party is invalid, even if there is no conflict between the goods and/or services concerned; and (c) barring another party from using a trademark which is identical to the well-known mark or is sufficiently similar thereto as to be likely to cause confusion in the minds of the public, provided that the date the trademark became well known precedes the priority date of the other party's mark.

It is expected that the Russian Trademark Law will be amended to include the concept of the well-known trademark.