The state corporation "Roskosmos" has applied for registration as a trademark of the image of the International Space Station and the phrase "First in space".
The corresponding document "Open Media" was found on the website of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS).
The concern registers a new trademark in 12 classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services (International Classification of Goods and Services). The state corporation will be able to use the new logo for jewelry, souvenirs, watches, dishes, clothes, toilet paper, toilet bowls and even trampolines.
The International Space Station is the result of the cooperation of many countries. Apart from Roskosmos, the participants of this program are the American NASA, representing the EU countries, Great Britain, Switzerland and Norway, the European Space Agency, as well as the space agencies of Japan, Canada and Brazil. The station consists of two segments, one of them is operated by Roskosmos, the second - by NASA.
The European Space Agency does not see anything reprehensible in such use of the ISS image, a spokesman for the agency told Open Media. This image does not belong to ESA, therefore this organization cannot give any instructions regarding its use, explained the interlocutor of OM. A NASA spokesman did not respond to a request.
Denis Khabarov, partner at the law firm Baker McKenzie, believes that there should be no problems with registering a trademark with the ISS image in Russia.
“You can refuse to register a trademark if it violates someone's rights, for example, to an earlier trademark, an object of copyright, or is an object of cultural heritage, a state symbol or a symbol of an international or intergovernmental organization. The image of the ISS itself could serve as a basis for refusal of registration, if this design had an owner and he would declare his rights, "Khabarov explained.
Also on March 9, Roskosmos filed applications for registration as a trademark of the docking image of two Soyuz spacecraft and the first Lunokhod-1 lunar rover. The classes of the MKTU for these trademarks coincide with the ISS mark.
Earlier, Open Media wrote that Roscosmos would register the First in Space trademark. Then the state corporation said that Roskosmos had initiated the registration of a wide range of historical designations as trademarks in order to protect themselves from unfair competition.