FAS proposes to charge companies with a fine of up to 15% of turnover for unfair use of someone else’s corporate identity.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is actively promoting amendments to the law on the protection of competition. The fourth antimonopoly package of amendments included a proposal by the FAS to fine companies for unfair use of elements of another brand. The size of the fine varies from 1% to 15% of the company's turnover.

The State Legal Department (GPU) of the President and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade opposed the project. They fear a weaker competition and additional problems for entrepreneurs. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs also disagreed with the proposal: why innovations are needed, if you can submit objections to Rospatent and to the court for registration of the brand. FAS corrected the document with the comments and sent it to the government.

Now the penalty for the use of someone else's trademark is enshrined in the Code of Administrative Violations (CAO), recalls the head of the anti-unfair competition protection department of the antimonopoly service, Jan Sklyarova. FAS does not attempt to rewrite the law, but simply proposes to prohibit copying and unregistered designations, for example, design, corporate identity and other individual features that are already used by competitors in the market.
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According to the head of the legal department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergei Puzyrevsky, in 2014, more than 200 violations related to trademarks were recorded. The damage from such unfair competition can be very great, it is a blow to the brand value, and care of some consumers who have been misled, believes Rusbrand executive director Alexey Popovichev. The name of the product may be different, but the font or design of the product may resemble an already well-known product, and the right holder must have the tools to deal with such violators, he explains.

Fines will threaten all companies developing their own brands, fears partner Goltsblat BLP Elena Trusova. The essence of the competition lies in the rivalry of brands, and the FAS suggests actually eliminating it, notes Alexey Ulyanov, a member of the working group on the development of competition in the expert council under the government.

Now the Civil Code provides for the payment of compensation in the amount of from 10 thousand to 5 million rubles. It is easier for companies to go to court and get compensation by his decision, a lawyer of a large company notes: the FAS fine will go to the budget, and the company will not gain anything from it, and a 1% fine of turnover may not cause significant harm to an unfair competitor.

There are cases when violations are not formally covered by the Administrative Code. For example, a company appeared that registered a trademark for a class of clothing, although there is the same sign registered by another manufacturer, producing watches. Rospatent is registering exactly according to the product class. FAS is not limited to collecting evidence for the investigation, it is both requests for the provision of documents, and raids. Companies and ships do not have such instruments, said Maxim Kulkov, managing partner of KK & P, told Vedomosti.