Article 1483. Grounds for Refusal of Official Registration of a Trademark

The following signs shall not be registered as trademarks if they are not capable of distinguishing or consisting only of elements that:

1) have fallen into public domain to indicate the goods of a certain kind;

2) are generally accepted symbols and terms;

3) characterize goods, including indication

of their type, quality, quantity, properties , purpose, or value and also the time, place, or means of their production or sale;

4) represent the configuration of goods that is determined exclusively or mainly by the properties or purpose of the goods.

The indicated elements may be incorporated in the trademark as non-protected elements if they do not prevail.

The provisions of the present Paragraph shall not be applied with respect to signs that have acquired the distinctiveness as the result of their use.

By virtue of an international treaty of the Russian Federation the signs shall not be registered as trademarks if they consist only of elements that are:

1) state armorial bearings, flags, or other state symbols and marks;

2) abbreviations or full names of international and intergovernmental organizations, their armorial bearings, flags, or other symbols and marks;

3) official signs or hallmarks of control and warranty, seals, awards, and other distinguishing signs;

4) signs confusingly similar to the elements indicated in subparagraphs 1-3 of the present Paragraph.

Such elements may be included in a trademark as non-protected elements provided there is consent of an appropriate competent authority.

3. The signs shall not be registered as trademarks that are or contain the elements:

1) that are false or capable of misleading a consumer in respect of goods or their producer;

2) that are contrary to public interests, or to principles of humanity or morality.

4. The signs identical or confusingly similar to the official names and images of particularly valuable objects of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation or objects of world cultural or natural heritage, and also with images of cultural values stored in special, general, and reserve collections shall not be registered as trademarks if registration is sought in the name of persons who are not their owners, without the consent of their owners or of the persons authorized by the owners for the registration of such signs as trademarks.

5. By virtue of an international treaty of the Russian Federation, the signs shall not be registered as trademarks that are or contain elements that are protected in one of the States party to this international treaty as signs identifying wines or spirits as originating from its territory (or produced within the boundaries of a geographical object of this state) and have a particular quality, reputation, or other characteristics that are mainly determined by its origin, if the trademark shall be used for the indication of wines or spirits that not originating from the territory of the geographical object concerned.

6. The signs shall not be registered as trademarks if they are identical, or confusingly similar to:

1) trademarks of other persons applied for registration (Article 1492) with respect to similar goods with an earlier priority, unless the application for official registration has been withdrawn or has been deemed withdrawn;

2) trademarks of other persons protected in the Russian Federation, including by virtue of an international treaty of the Russian Federation with respect to similar goods.

3) trademarks of other persons recognized under the present Code as well-known marks in the Russian Federation with respect to similar goods with an earlier priority.

The sign confusingly similar to any of the trademarks indicated in the present

Paragraph shall be registered as a trademark with respect to similar goods only with the consent of the rightholder.

7. The signs identical or confusingly similar to an appellation of originnprotected under the present Code shall not be registered as trademarks with respect to any goods except for the case when such a sign is included as an non-protected element in a trademark registered in the name of person having

the exclusive right to use such an appellation, if the registration of the trademark is applied with respect to those goods for individualization of which the appellation of origin is registered.

8. The signs identical or confusingly similar to a trade name or commercial name protected in the Russian Federation (or individual elements of such a trade name or commercial name), or to the names of selection attainment registered in the State Register of Protected Selection Attainment, rights to which arose in the Russian Federation earlier than the priority date of the trademark to be registered shall not be registered as trademarks with respect to similar goods.

9. The signs shall not be registered as trademarks if they are identical to:

1) a title of work of science, literature, or art, a character or quotation from such a work, a work of art or a fragment thereof known in the Russian Federation on filing date of the application for official registration of a trademark (Article 1492), without the consent of the rightholder, if the rights to the respective work arose earlier than the priority date of the trademark to be registered;

2) a name (Article 19), a pseudonym (Paragraph 1 of Article 1265) or their derivatives, a portrait or facsimile of a person known in the Russian Federation on the filing date of the application without the consent of this person or his heir;

3) an industrial design, a correspondence sign, the rights to which arose earlier than the priority date of trademark to be registered.

10. On the grounds provided for in the present Article the legal protection also shall not be granted to signs recognized as trademarks by virtue of international treaties of the Russian Federation