In the course of pro bono services attorneys of KIAP IP practice assisted the charitable fund for elderly and disabled people «Starost v radost» (eng – “Oldness for Joy”), a non-profit organization that over 10 years provides support to lonely elderly people living in social institutions all over Russia, with registering their main logo as a trademark.
Programs of the Fund are carried out at the federal level and include medical, social and psychological care for lonely elderly people. The organization also provides professional and HR support for employees of social institutions – nursing homes for disabled people and veterans, nursing departments of hospitals. Today the Fund’s activity covers approximately 200 nursing homes in more than 25 regions of Russia under 5 permanent programs. A founder and present director of the Fund Elizaveta Oleskina is a member of the Government Council on Guardianship in the Social Sphere since 2016.
Elizaveta Oleskina noted: “Assistance in acquisition of exclusive right to the logo of our Fund is undoubtedly a contribution to the development of assistance for lonely elderly people all over Russia”.
Until recently, rights to the name of the Fund have been only protected as a name of the non-profit organization under the Federal Law “On non-profit organizations”. However, the current case law, including the case of the well-known Russian fund “Podari zhizn” (eng – “Gift of Life”), shows that provisions of this law cannot provide a necessary protection to the names of funds from unfair actions of third parties.
On the contrary, registration of the logo as a trademark that was successfully executed by the IP lawyers of KIAP team will help to protect the rights to the Fund name by additional means which are established by Part IV of the Russian Civil Code. This will undoubtedly strengthen the legal protection of the name and logo.