Customs register of trademarks

One of the tools of customs supervision to protect rights holders’ interests is the Register of Intellectual Property Objects which is kept by customs service on the basis of applications of exclusive intellectual property rights holders. Today almost 1900 trademarks belonging both to Russian and foreign manufacturers are registered in the Customs Register. According to statistics of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation most of the forgeries are detected in clothes and footwear, on the second place there are confectionery products and foodstuff, on the third place there are perfume and makeup. Then CD and DVD disks, leather accessories, household appliances and pharmaceutical production come. The objects of trademarks holders rights infringement are mainly such well-known companies as “Adidas”, “Reebok”, “Puma”, “Nike” and others.

In order to provide protection of the rights to intellectual property objects when turning the goods over the border of Russia the possibility to enter the data on such objects in the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects which is kept by the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation is provided. Information on trademarks, places of goods’ origin, and objects of copyright and related rights can be entered in the Customs Register.

In particular, entering the trademarks in the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects provides the possibility to terminate goods smuggling over the customs border of Russia. According to article 14.10 of Administrative Violations Code the illegal use of another trademark, service mark, appellation of goods origin or similar to them marks for homogeneous goods results in imposition of an administrative penalty on citizens in the amount of one thousand and five hundred to two thousand rubles with confiscation of the products containing illegal reproduction of  trademark; on officials – in the amount of ten thousand to twenty thousand rubles with confiscation of the products containing illegal reproduction of trademark; on legal bodies - in the amount of thirty thousand to forty thousand rubles with confiscation of the products containing illegal reproduction of trademark. Thus, customs authority’s resort to the court with the claim of administrative offence can cause imposing a penalty and confiscation of the whole batch of the imported goods.

Entering intellectual property objects into register is now regulated by chapter 42 of FL on Customs regulation in Russian Federation No. 311-FL dated 27.11.2010 , hereinafter FL, chapter 46 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, as well as Administrative regulations of the Federal Customs Service on the state function to consider the applications for taking measures relative to suspension of goods release by customs authorities as well as of keeping the customs register of intellectual property objects.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 324 of FL “Articles 1 - 357.9”, “paragraphs 2” and “3 of Article 357.10”, “Articles 358 - 439” of the Customs code of the Russian Federation are acknowledge as expired.

Intellectual property objects in respect of which the decision is made by the federal executive body, authorized in the area of customs, to take measures to suspend goods release shall be included in the register, provided that the holder ensures fulfillment of an obligation to repair a property damage, which may be inflict to declarant, owner, consignee of the goods or to other persons in connection with the suspension of goods release as provided by the civil legislation of the Russian Federation.

The term of the rights protection of intellectual property holder shall be set entering intellectual property objects in the customs registers kept by the customs authorities in the member states of the customs union and in the single customs register of intellectual property rights of the customs union members considering the period specified by the right holder in the application, but not more than 2 (two) years from the date of inclusion to such registers. 

It should be noted that regulations to govern the conditions and procedures for the entering intellectual property in a single customs register of intellectual property rights of the customs union member states and the order of its keeping are so far not adopted.