Absence Of Presence Does Not Impede Protection

A new trace of practice has been noticeable on the horizon. Salitaco Ltd., a Russian company, filed a trademark application No 2022715392 for SORMEC. SORMEC is the name of an Italian company that manufactures equipment for maritime ships. This co-occurrence is hardly coincidental because the Russian company manufactures the same maritime equipment (https://salitaco.ru) and prefers to register the name of an Italian company as a trademark instead of its own.

The patent office rejected the application with the rationale that it was rather unusual for its practice. The Italian company does not have a trademark registration in Russia reproducing its name. The reason for the rejection was that the Italian company manufactures and sells equipment under its company name. The patent office believes that products manufactured by the Italian company are known to Russian consumers because sources show that there are proposals to sell the SORMEC equipment in Russia. So,