On the face of it, the answer to this question may appear to be ‘no’. There seems to be little point in filing applications for patents or trade marks in the knowledge that, as a foreign applicant, there’s a chance that your rights may never be enforceable.
However, the reality is more complex than this. It has to be assumed that, at some point in the future, the war will be over and the sanctions will be lifted, meaning that doing business in Russia will once again be possible. If you have not filed applications for IP rights in Russia in the interim, it may no longer be possible to do so (particularly when it comes to patents and designs).
In addition, Russia is a “first to file” trade mark country, meaning that the first person to file a trade mark application for a particular mark is, on the face of it at least, the owner of the mark. If you have a growing brand with a potential market in Russia, it is conceivable that a Russian applicant could file an application for your brand, thereby creating some problems for you should it becomes possible to do business in Russia in the future.
In short, if Russia is an important market for your IP, you need to carefully consider whether you should still look at going through the motions of obtaining protection in that country. However, proceeding with a new filing would be done in the full knowledge that any Russian IP rights may never be enforceable.
If you have questions about how you can protect your Intellectual Property, get in touch with Kings Patent & Trademark Attorney’s.