MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Mazda Motor Rus, which positioned itself as the Mazda distributor and importer in Russia until 2022, has extended its exclusive right to the automobile brand's logo trademark for 10 years, a TASS correspondent has found out.

The trademark application was first filed in 1996 and registered in 1997. The trademark rights have been extended twice, most recently until 2026. The new expiration date for the trademark is 2036. According to the database of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), reviewed by TASS, the trademark is registered under classes No. 7, No. 12, and No. 37 of the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS) - automobiles, spare parts, and repairs.

The trademark owner is the Japanese Mazda Motor Corporation, but the company granted the right to use the trademark has been listed as Mazda Motor Rus since May 2022.

Earlier, Rospatent head Yury Zubov noted in an interview with TASS that major foreign brands continue to register and renew their intellectual property rights in Russia. He emphasized that trademarks are maintained to protect against counterfeiting and prevent unauthorized entities from selling goods under the guise of the original rights holder's brand. The copyright holder, in turn, is interested in preserving the brand's reputation, even if the market, in this case the Russian one, is temporarily unavailable.