The corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed a trade mark application for exactly that, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was rejected by the Patent Office.
The ground for rejection was expected: the designation is the name of a religious organisation which has express religious semantics. The claimed designation contains the name of God (Jesus Christ), which is used by many Christian religious confessions. This may affect the feelings of some Christian believers, which goes against public interests.
The Patent Office noted that the designation per se, considering its meaning, does not contradict public interests nor is it doubted that the activities of the applicant correspond to the law governing the public order.
The applicant appealed in court but every consecutive court instance confirmed the decision of the Patent Office. The court pointed out that a representative office of the church is registered in the Russian Federation, as shown by a certificate issued by the Russian Ministry of Justice in 2009. Aside from that there are registered local religious organisations in many Russian cities, such as Ryazan, Tver, Kaluga, Lipetsk and Smolensk, demonstrated by the certificates on file. In such circumstances it is not possible to interpret the decision of the Patent Office as questioning the right of the applicant to engage in religious activities in Russia.
The applicant tried to support its position by reference to the registrations of the trade mark in other countries, but the court dismissed it. The fact of existence of registration in other countries does not have bearing on the situation in Russia because Article 6a of the Paris Convention provides that conditions of filing and registration of trade marks are determined independently by each country by the national legislation of that country.
It is worth noting that the Patent Office is consistent in its attitude and takes the same stance in respect of any religious confessions in Russia.
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| Vladimir Biriulin |
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