DETROIT, Mich. (WWJ) — Soon, Russia may make it possible for people to continue using trademarked brand names even as companies halt business in the country amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
McDonald’s – a U.S.-based company that announced Tuesday that it would temporarily close its 850 restaurants in Russia – could be one of them, said Josh Gerben, an intellectual property lawyer in Washington cited by The Washington Post.
Russia could "take those McDonald’s that got shut down and…just let local operators operate the restaurants and call them 'McDonald's'," Gerben explained.
Around 9% of McDonald’s revenue comes from Russia and Ukraine.
TASS, a state-owned Russian media company said last week that Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development of Russia is "considering the possibility of lifting restrictions on the use of intellectual property for a number of goods, the import of which into the Russian Federation has been restricted."
This would be a temporary measure, that would "mitigate the impact on the market of supply chain breaks, as well as shortages of goods and services that have arisen due to the new sanctions of western countries," according to TASS.
Already, a decree announced in Russia this week has allowed patents to be used there in ways that would typically be thought of as theft.
This decree is related to “the Methodology for Determining the Amount of Compensation Paid to a Patent Owner When Deciding to Use an Invention, Utility Model or Industrial Design without His Consent, and the Procedure for Its Payment.”
According to The Washington Post, the move has "effectively legalized patent theft" from anyone affiliated with countries who are not on "friendly" terms with Russia and that the decree stated unauthorized use of patents will not be compensated.
"Since the rights granted by a U.S. patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect in a foreign country, an inventor who wishes patent protection in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in regional patent offices," according to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
Companies with valuable patents in Russia could be impacted by this decision. Gerben said it could also affect Western investment, even after the potential de-escalation of the war in Ukraine.
"It's just another example of how [Putin] has forever changed the relationship that Russia will have with the world," he said.
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