Features of inheritance of the exclusive right to a trademark

     Trademarks are unique designations designed to individualize goods and/or services to realize the economic interests of various entities, increase their competitiveness in the market and prevent consumers from being misled regarding homogeneous products

     The owner of a trademark has the right to bequeath this object of intellectual property not only to direct heirs, but also to any other person.

A record of the transfer of the exclusive right to a trademark by inheritance is entered into the register of trademarks. The heir becomes the new copyright holder of the trademark, who has all the powers inherent in the previous owner of the trademark.

     The basis for state registration of the transfer of the exclusive right to a means of individualization by inheritance is a certificate of the right to inheritance.

     If the right to the trademark was not transferred as part of inheritance to any person, then any person has the right to apply to the Chamber of Patent Disputes with an application for early termination of the legal protection of a trademark in connection with the death of the citizen - the copyright holder.

     It should be noted that, unlike information about the termination of the activities of a legal entity, information about the death of an individual is not posted in open registers, and therefore, establishing the fact of a citizen’s death may be difficult for a third party.

     If there are several heirs, because co-ownership of a trademark is not provided for in an application for the transfer of rights to trademark without an agreement, and certificate of inheritance, attached agreement on division of inheritance (only one person becomes the heir to the trademark). Moreover, if there is a minor citizen among the heirs, a document confirming the preliminary permission of the guardianship and trusteeship authority to conclude an agreement on the division of inheritance relating to the exclusive right is attached to the agreement on the division of inheritance concerning the exclusive right to RIA

     Thus, inheritance of a trademark in accordance with Art. 1116 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation can be carried out in two ways:

- according to a will drawn up by a deceased person (former copyright holder), and the heirs can be individuals and legal entities, individual entrepreneurs (state and municipal institutions, international organizations, etc.);

- without a will (by law), heirs, who can only be individuals, are determined in order of priority.

The date of opening of the inheritance is considered to be the day of death of the copyright holder or the day of entry into force of a court decision according to which he is recognized as deceased. In accordance with Art. 1154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the inheritance must be accepted within six months from the date of its opening.