Lidings Intellectual Property team representing a global Japanese IT and gaming corporation achieved the exclusion of the company's brand from the public list of goods allowed for parallel import.
On 19 April 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved the Decree partially legalizing parallel import in Russia. The list includes well-known brands of cars, home equipment, gadgets, and etc., including our client’s brand.
On 21 July 2022, the Decree approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade introduced further changes to the parallel import list, excluding, in particular, the client's brand from it. Now the client's products are again prohibited from being imported into Russia without a proper IP consent.
The client in this case is represented by Boris Malakhov, Partner and Head of the Lidings Intellectual Property practice, and Nikita Ayrapetov, Associate.
The exclusion of brands from the parallel import list means that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is ready to go forward with meeting the needs of companies that continue to do business in Russia.In conditions when the legalization of parallel imports leads to serious changes in various markets, legal advisers are faced with a challenging task of interpreting the new reality.
Interaction with regulatory authorities was of particular importance for us while working on this case. In particular, with the support of an industry association, we managed to remove the client's brand from the list of goods for parallel import. We are pleased that the significant efforts made at the stage of interaction with the Ministry of Industry and Trade led to a positive outcome for the client.