Russia Drafting Amendments to Cease and Desist Letter Procedure

Russia has recently drafted amendments to Article 4 of the Arbitration Procedural Code, which propose the exemption of certain actions, including exclusive right declarations and publications of court decisions, from the recently introduced out-of-court procedure, which stipulates that claimants have to first submit a cease and desist letter and then wait for 30 days before initiating infringement proceedings in court.

On the other hand, the amendments propose the application of the out-of-court procedure to non-use actions. According to the draft, a claimant has to send a cease and desist letter to the trademark owner prior to filing a non-use action. If the trademark owner does not surrender the trademark or the parties do not come to an agreement within 2 months, the claimant has 30 days to file a court action.

The Russian government is still considering the proposed amendments.

By: Tatyana Kulikova

For more information, please contact Tatyana Kulikova at our Russia office.