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Rospatent denied the agricultural holding company registration of a trademark with the image of "V"
The agricultural company Valov Group sought legal protection for its trademark containing the letter B. However, Rospatent considered this to be contrary to public interests, since consumers associate this symbol with the military.
The Board of Directors of the Federal Office for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) has rejected an attempt by the Kaluga-based agroholding Valov Group to register as a trademark an image containing a symbol similar to the letter V. This decision was made by Rospatent following the Board of Directors of the Chamber for Patent Disputes' consideration of objections and applications reviewed by RBC.
In November 2023, Agro-Industrial Holding Valov Group LLC, which calls itself the largest robotic farm in the Kaluga Region, filed an application to register a figurative designation. Inside is a gray circle with a black frame, inside which are the elements of the form: The applicant for the Latin letter V sought legal registration of goods of classes 7, 11, 21 and 29 of the International Classification of Goods and Services (including agricultural implements, slaughter machines, milking and harvesting machines, animal feeders, yogurts, kefir and other dairy products).
However, in May of this year, Rospatent refused to register the trademark for the agroholdings, citing subparagraphs. 2p. 3 of Art. Article 1483 of the Civil Code prohibits registration if it is contrary to public interests. The basis for refusing to register the trademark was the experts' argument that, based on information publicly available on the Internet, the letter elements included in the declared name are recognized as the Latin letter V, which is attributed to the emblem of the Russian Federation. Armed Forces. The graphically highlighted letter V occupies a central place on the sign, attracts the steady attention of consumers and is currently used as the emblem of the Armed Forces of Russia, the resolution says.
The letter V is “commonly used on Russian military equipment, uniforms, and its use by civilians as a symbol to express support for the armed forces is an indisputable fact of their position,” and the symbol now evokes “stable associations.” With the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as stated in the document.” Rospatent provides links to media materials for confirmation.
Valov Group disagreed with this decision and appealed it to the Chamber of Patent Disputes. In particular, the company noted that the letters engraved on the round graphic elements are not always recognizable as the letter V of the Latin alphabet. For example, it can be recognized as the lowercase letter "g" from the Cyrillic alphabet, written in cursive, or the letter "Izhitsa" from the pre-reform Russian alphabet, the lowercase letter "gamma", "upsilon" or "nu" from the ancient Greek alphabet and horns or The image of a horned cow/horned helmet was conceived by the artist, but although this designation uses the letter V, it is recognized as an abbreviation of the name of the applicant, Valov Group, and the company argues that the letter V is not an official emblem of the Armed Forces. We noted that Rospatent has previously granted legal protection to trademarks containing these letters.
The Rospatent Board, having studied the case materials, agreed with the expert that the recognition of the association of the "B" mark is "stable". The applicant's arguments are not very clear.
The board of directors of Rospatent believes that "the assertion about the lack of connection between the declared designation and the SVO (Special Military Operations - RBC) marking seems controversial." They cite the explanation of the Ministry of Defense that although the sign is not an official military emblem, it is recognizable and positively perceived by Russian soldiers and citizens. "In this regard, it can be concluded that the Latin letter V is associated by a wide range of people with the tasks of the Northern Military District and is perceived by the patriotic part of society as a sign of support for the Russian army. "The board came to the conclusion.
The Board of Directors of Rospatent refused to accept Valov Group's objections. It explained its decision by the fact that the V sign had effectively entered the public domain without any specific author. This means that it can be used free of charge by a wide range of people, including those engaged in corporate activities. In this case, it was decided that registering the designation as a trademark would be contrary to the public interest, since it would grant the copyright holder an exclusive right to commercial use and allow third parties to prohibit future use.
At the time of publication, the Valov Group agricultural holding had not responded to RBC’s questions.
Patent attorney Sergei Zuikov, managing partner of Zuikov and Partners, said he disagreed with Rospatent's decision to classify the letter V in the application of the Valov Group agroholding as a designation that is contrary to public interests. The expert noted: "The letter V used by the Ministry of Defense differs from the letter V applied for registration and has no similarities." In his opinion, the reason for the refusal to register may be the insolvency of the company, which is trying to justify the possibility of registration by the fact that this is not the Latin letter V, but other letters or letter variants from different alphabets. Image of a helmet with cows or horns.
Zuikov does not believe that this decision threatens trademarks previously registered under this symbol, but it will definitely create problems with registering new symbols. The expert said: "There are many registered letters with the letter V, but I do not consider this practice of refusing to register the letter V to be correct."
Owners of already registered trademarks can, in principle, safely use such trademarks until such registrations are challenged, if the interested party wishes to do so, the Internet Patent Office reports. However, given the objectively wide use of the V element in the operational environment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the decision of the Rospatent Committee could also be the first step in developing the practice of registering designations occupied by this element. Experts note that it occupies a dominant position.
Conflict with public interest, as stated in Online Patents, is a complex and multifaceted reason for refusing to register a trademark. For example, they recall the case when Aleksandrov Pogreb's company filed an objection to the Saint Vincent trademark, which, by a decision of the Supreme Court, lost the rights to the brand with the saint's name for insulting the feelings of believers. "In Russia, trademarks containing a combination of the word "for adults" and individual names have been registered for many years and are still valid for alcoholic beverages. The Saint Vincent case has formed the practice and position regarding the consideration of new applications of this type, significantly complicating registration due to the high risk of rejection due to a conflict with the public interest," the online patent notes.
At the same time, the company believes that the Valov Group will be able to continue to fight for its designation in the courts for intellectual property rights, considering the designation graphics to be objectively different from the usual variants used in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. . . Zuikov believes that it is "quite likely" that the Rospatent decision will be overturned by the Court for Intellectual Property Rights. "The most important thing is that the arguments in court are consistent and clear, given the fact that the Latin letter V is used for registration," he said.
The gist of Rospatent's arguments, as set out in the decision, is that the designation B acquired distinctiveness due to the use of the Russian Armed Forces, while the designation B, applied for registration without additional characteristics and associations, did not. Ekaterina Tilling, a lawyer, partner and head of the intellectual property practice at the law firm Birch Legal, says that trademarks have the necessary distinctiveness. "One can argue about the grounds on which Rospatent refuses to register a trademark. After all, this is not about ethics or morality, this is not about the unethical use of national symbols," the lawyers say. If you follow the recommendations set out in Rospatent's decision, you can register it as a trademark, adding to the designation the uniqueness specified in the legal norms. "The name can be changed by including additional elements in it, for example, using the full name of the company or the Cyrillic alphabet," Tilling said.