Many applicants have certain difficulties caused by quite a lengthy trademark examination procedure in Russia (it takes 14-16 months as of the filing date now).
The examiners of the Russian PTO have been discussing the possibility of optimization of the examination procedure that could shorten the examination terms.
One of the suggestions is the opposition procedure similar to the one accepted by the OHIM.
The public debate on this issue shall take place in the PTO on December 10, 2015.
If the opposition procedure is accepted, registration of a trademark may take 4 months (in case no opposition is filed against the application) instead of 16, which, we are sure, will be gladly welcome by the applicants.
Thus, we are happy to see that the Russian IP legislation is getting closer to the European one.