Latin-script signs in Russia: Rospotrebnadzor goes to court as businesses register trademarks

Since 1 March 2026, Article 10.1 of the Russian Consumer Protection Law, introduced by Federal Law No. 168-FZ of 24 June 2025, has required businesses to present public consumer information in Russian. Eight months on, signage inspections have turned into a nationwide campaign: regional offices of Rospotrebnadzor (the consumer protection watchdog) are issuing dozens of warnings and taking businesses that fail to comply to court. The first judgments are in, and so far none has gone in the business's favour.

Figures from the regions

• Tula Region. From 1 March to 30 September 2026: 72 inspections without direct interaction with businesses, 72 warnings and 15 lawsuits, four of which have already been granted.
• Orenburg Region. 98 warnings since March; three entrepreneurs failed to comply and have been sued.
• Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. 59 signs and 22 websites checked, 59 warnings issued, 4 lawsuits filed.
• Udmurt Republic. In the first half of the year: 59 inspections without interaction, 55 warnings and two administrative offence reports under Arts. 14.8(1) and 19.5(1) of the Code of Administrative Offences.
• Krasnodar Territory. In Novorossiysk, 15 shops received warnings and were given two months to fix their signs.

What the courts decide

Rospotrebnadzor sues on behalf of an indefinite range of consumers, typically asking the court to declare the conduct unlawful, order the sign to be corrected and require the business to inform consumers of the judgment.

The Kamensk-Uralsky case is telling. The sign mixed Cyrillic and Latin letters (a play on the Russian word "probka", meaning "cork"), but according to Rospotrebnadzor it contained no Russian version identical in content, form, size and colour. However witty, mixing alphabets does not satisfy the law. The owner was given five days to fix the sign, left it unchanged, and the matter went to court.

Fines and the real cost

The Russian Code of Administrative Offences has no specific offence for foreign words. General provisions apply:

• Art. 14.8(1) (violation of the consumer's right to information): a warning or a fine of RUB 500-1,000 for officials and individual entrepreneurs, RUB 5,000-10,000 for legal entities;
• Art. 19.5 - for failure to comply with a lawful order on time;
• Art. 14.3(1), if the text is treated as advertising: RUB 4,000-20,000 for officials and RUB 100,000-500,000 for legal entities. On 13 August 2026, for example, the Tyumen office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service held that the word "market" on a shopping centre facade was advertising and issued an order.

The fines are modest, but litigation costs more. The losing defendant pays a state fee for each non-monetary claim: RUB 3,000 for individuals and entrepreneurs, RUB 20,000 for organisations, and a claim usually contains three demands. Practice is not yet consistent: in near-identical claims against entrepreneurs, the Ivanteevka court awarded RUB 9,000, while the Sovetsky District Court of Oryol applied the organisational rate and awarded RUB 60,000. On top of that come publication of the judgment and replacement of the sign: according to the Novorossiysk business community, a new sign can cost up to RUB 150,000.

Register the mark or switch to Cyrillic

Businesses have already responded. According to data reported by Vedomosti, trademark applications in Russia rose by 31% in January-April 2026, to 60,700. Applications for marks containing Latin script were up 40%, to about 37,000, while Cyrillic applications rose 23%, to about 20,000. Filings peaked in February and March, just before the law took effect. Retail, cosmetics and perfumery, and education and entertainment showed the strongest growth.

Major brands are taking different approaches:

• Keep the original. Metro keeps its Latin spelling because the mark is registered, while signage inside its shopping centres is now fully in Russian. Askona keeps its Latin marks and is also registering its mass-market product lines as trademarks.
• Switch to Cyrillic voluntarily. The Flowwow marketplace is gradually moving to the Cyrillic spelling "Флаувау", even though its mark is protected until 2030: the company says Cyrillic is easier to read and less often misspelled.
• Mind the venue's rules. Cofix said that when it opened a coffee shop in the transport hub at Moscow's Leningradsky railway station, it switched to Cyrillic despite its registered Latin spelling, because the venue's internal requirements were stricter than the law.

If you are planning a rebrand, want to audit your signs and website, or need to register a trademark for a name already in use in Russia, the team at Liapunov & Reznichenko can help assess the risks and prepare the filing.

Sources (in Russian): Interfax (Tula Region); AiF-Orenburg; URA.RU (Khanty-Mansi AO); Rospotrebnadzor Office for the Udmurt Republic; Kommersant (Novorossiysk); Glavbukh (Glamour Street and Vape zone cases); Garant (Chaplin case); AiF-Tula (Privokzalny court); T-Zh (case review); Ural-Meridian (Kamensk-Uralsky); Vedomosti (trademark filings); Retail.ru (Metro, Askona, Cofix); AdIndex (Flowwow).

This material is for information purposes only, is based on public sources and does not constitute legal advice. Case law under Article 10.1 of the Consumer Protection Law is still developing, and some of the judgments mentioned have not yet entered into force.