More than 1,300 trademarks with Russian origin remain legally protected in Ukraine
Russian trademarks continue to be legally protected in Ukraine (Photo: Pexels)
More than 1,300 trademarks of Russian origin remain under legal protection in Ukraine, and 16 of them have had that protection extended since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to Opendatabot’s report dated June 3.
The analytical service said 16 Russian-origin trademarks have managed to renew the validity of their certificates at the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations, known as IP Office, since the full-scale war began.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has had a moratorium on any registration actions for residents of the Russian Federation and Belarus,” Opendatabot said.
“This means they cannot transfer ownership rights to their trademarks or carry out other similar operations. At the same time, extending the validity period of a certificate is not prohibited — and this is exactly what the owners of some brands used.”
As a result, IP Office has already extended protection for 16 such trademarks since the start of the full-scale war. They include the anti-epileptic drug Algerica, the alcoholic beverage brand Smirnoff, and, as a separate trademark, the image mark for Prostokvashino.
Overall, 1,356 of the 3,238 Russian trademarks registered in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion still remain under legal protection, meaning nearly every second brand with Russian roots has retained its legal status.
At the same time, IP Office told Opendatabot it does not keep separate statistics on the number of Russian trademarks.
The largest number of such trademarks are in advertising and business services, with 454 brands. Significant numbers are also linked to medical and hygiene products, 383; paper products and stationery, 243; and food products and seasonings, 192. One trademark can be registered in several classes, so those figures overlap.
Among the brands that remain protected are names familiar to many Ukrainians, including Agusha, Chudo, Prostokvashino, Maisky, Curtis, Richard and Baltika. Many of them had been present on the Ukrainian market for years, and even now their legal rights remain formally protected.
For 196 trademarks, the certificate validity period has already expired, but they still appear as active in IP Office’s registries until the corresponding changes are officially published. That means the actual number of active trademarks may be somewhat lower, though legally the situation still appears as recorded.
Court practice has confirmed that the moratorium is not merely formal. In 2024, Ukrainian courts upheld the refusal to transfer rights to trademarks belonging to a Belarusian resident. According to the report, this means attempts to hide the Russian or Belarusian origin of brands through changes of ownership currently have little chance of success.
At the same time, sanctions do not always mean the loss of legal protection. At present, 23 trademarks are under sanctions imposed by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, including marks linked to names such as Grigory Leps and Alfa-Bank. Even so, they remain registered and formally protected in Ukraine.
In one separate case, a Russian trademark was transferred to the management of Ukraine’s Asset Recovery and Management Agency, or ARMA, by court decision.
A trademark certificate remains valid for 10 years and can be renewed, meaning some of these brands could remain within Ukraine’s legal system at least until 2033.
IP Office said that despite sanctions and restrictions on persons linked to Russia, Ukrainian law does not prohibit the extension of trademark validity. Moreover, a decision by the National Security and Defense Council expressly allows such actions as an exception to the general moratorium.
Preserving rights to Russian trademarks could be important in future court cases against Russia, since those assets could potentially be used to compensate for war-related damages, the report said.
At the same time, a trademark cannot be automatically canceled solely because its owner is Russian. That requires a separate court ruling. If an owner’s assets are confiscated to the state by decision of Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court, the rights to those trademarks pass under the control of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
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