Main points
- The Russian government plans to take into “temporary management” the intellectual rights of foreign companies from “unfriendly” countries that have left Russia.
- McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Chanel and other Western brands have registered their trademarks in Russia to protect intellectual property.
Russia wants to “appropriate” the property of Western companies / Shutterstock
The Russian government is preparing to take over the intellectual property rights of foreign companies that have left Russia, from so-called “unfriendly” countries, under “temporary management.” In this way, Putin wants to earn extra money to plug the hole in the budget.
Why does Russia claim the assets of Western companies?
Many companies left the Russian market, but protected their rights by registering trademarks. Now they want to take these rights away, writes The Moscow Times.
Currently, the Ministry of Economic Development and Rospatent are working on the issue of creating a mechanism for temporary management of the rights of such companies – with a temporary manager who will both ensure the protection of violated rights and issue licenses to manufacturers who will be able to produce products necessary for our market,
– says Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Novak.
The initiative came about because many companies from so-called “unfriendly” countries re-registered their trademarks in Russia last year, filing a slew of so-called blocking applications. These documents prevent a similar trademark from being registered even after the old marks have been revoked.
Therefore, the Russian authorities want to appropriate these rights and lease them to other individuals for their own profit.
Which Western brands left Russia and protected their rights?
- McDonald's has registered seven trademarks for its dishes and services in Russian and English. Namely, for “Big Tasty”, “Quarter Pounder”, “Royal Cheeseburger”, McFresh, McFlurry, Big Mac and “MakDostavka”.
- Starbucks has registered a trademark in Russia until 2034.
- The American company Coca-Cola has registered the trademarks “Coca-Cola” and “Sprite” in Russia.
- Chanel has filed an application with Rospatent to register the trademark “Chanel Comete” in Russia.
- Mercedes-Benz has filed an application with Rospatent for trademark registration.
- Spanish company Inditex has filed an application to register the trademark Zara .
- The Louis Vuitton brand has registered a trademark in Russia.
Trademark registration or renewal is only a legal tool for protecting intellectual property. Companies seek to preserve rights to prevent third parties from using the brand and to block attempts to register similar names or logos.
Problems of Russian business and industry
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“Pipe Metallurgical Company” is shutting down one of its pipe rolling plants due to low demand for products. Russia's metallurgical industry is experiencing a crisis, with a decline in steel production and an increase in the share of imports.
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AvtoVAZ sales in January fell by almost 29% compared to last year, to 19.7 thousand cars. The company reduced prices on some models, but at the same time raised prices on the most popular cars.
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Russian companies suffered a record loss of 7.5 trillion rubles in January-November 2025 due to sanctions and the economic slowdown. The largest losses are recorded in manufacturing, wholesale trade and mining.