FAQ

Due to the presumption of illegality of unauthorized use of intellectual property, burden of proof lies upon the person, who executes the non-contractual use of trademarks.

If you have received a cease and desist letter regarding illegal use of trademarks while you do have the rightholder’s authorization to use his intellectual property, provide proof of such authorization to clear the misunderstanding.

In absence of a licensing agreement, you can prove your rights to use a trademark by demonstrating that the goods that you are commercializing are genuine and were acquired legally.

The following documents can be presented as proof:

• dealership or distribution agreements;
• agreements with official distributors for purchase of goods;
• consignment notes, tax invoices, bank transfer orders etc.

Be reminded that in absence of proof of legality of trademark use, sanctions aimed at suppression of infringements and collection of compensation may legally be imposed on your business.

For this, the trademarks will have to be removed from:

• website’s domain name, URLs of all of the website’s pages, and from other forms of addressing;
• all product offers;
• all forms of advertising;

Please note that not only selling but any other form of commercialization of goods will be considered to be infringing on trademark rights. Placement of product offers online (with or without actual intent to sell any goods) does constitute infringement in and of itself.

If you wish to continue selling the goods in question, contact one of the rightholder’s official distributor in the Russian Federation for obtainment of authorization to use the rightholder’s intellectual property in your business.