Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation
5 March 2004PRESS RELEASE
Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation
www.altshuller.ru
On February 25, 2004, Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva – the well known science-fiction writer and widow of Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller (15 October 1926 – 24 September 1998), the developer of the Theory of Invention Problem Solving (TRIZ) and Juna Evgenievna Komarcheva – filed a complaint against the issuance of the TRIZ trademark with the Patent Dispute Chamber of the Russian Federal Intellectual Property Administration.
The trademark was registered on 40 of the 42 classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services on July 11, 2003, on behalf of the MATRIZ Association (M.S. Rubin, director), with registration No. 251307, based on application No. 2001738708 with priority, filed December 19, 2001.
It is the view of V.N. Zhuravleva that this registration is in violation of the law. Specifically:
1. The registration of said trademark is in contradiction of the requirements of Article 6, Part 1, Paragraph 3 of the Russian Federal Law "On trademarks, service marks and product origins" (hereafter, the "Law") and point 2.3.2.2 of the "Rules on compiling, filing and reviewing applications for the registration of trademarks and service marks," (hereafter, the "Rules") as "the registration as trademarks generally accepted symbols or terms is not permitted";
2. The registration of said trademark is in contradiction of the requirements of Article 7, Part 2, Paragraph 3 of the Law and Part 2.10 of the Rules, as "designations identical … to the names of works of science, literature or art … well known in the Russian Federation at the date of application may not be registered as trademarks";
3. The decision to register said trademark is also in violation of the requirements provided in Chapter 6, Part 1 of the Law and Part 2.3.1 of the Rules, as the registered trademark is not distinguishable;
4. The registration of said trademark is in contradiction of the basic requirement of Article 1 of the Law, namely, trademarks may not serve to individualize goods;
5. The registration of said trademark is in contradiction of Article 10-bis of the Paris Convention, according to which: "Countries of the Union are obligated to accord citizens of countries participating in the Union effective defense against unfair competition. Any act of competition in contradiction of the honest traditions of industrial and trading affairs is considered an act of unfair competition";
6. The registration of said trademark was carried out with the goal of ‘blocking-off’, which is an abuse of rights and is forbidden by Article 10 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Moreover, while TRIZ developer G.S. Altshuller was still alive, he repeatedly stated that TRIZ, as a science, must belong to all. He said that TRIZ must have no limitations. It is impossible to concentrate a single, authentic model in one pair of hands. He believed the monopolization of TRIZ to be unallowable.
The application for the registration of the trademark on TRIZ was filed three years after the death of TRIZ’s developer. The application was filed by the directors of the MATRIZ Association secretly, without informing the heirs of TRIZ’s developer. No inquiry was made as to their opinion, nor as to the will of the developer.
Starting in October 2003, Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva repeatedly attempted to make contact with the above-mentioned organization in order to seek clarification. However, officials of MATRIZ refused to discuss matters. In addition, over the course of several months, patent attorneys from the legal firm Uskov & Partners (www.uskov.ru), retained by Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva, attempted to make contact with MATRIZ officials, both in written and oral form.
As none of these efforts met with success, in January 2004 Valentina Nikolaevna Zhuravleva prepared two open letters, in which she informed the public of this act of piracy and suggested that MATRIZ voluntarily take steps to annul the trademark. These letters received a tremendous response and the broad support of the scientific community.
A reply from MATRIZ, finally, proposed holding negotiations, but not about annulling the trademark.
All of these events, taken together, prompted the complaint to the Patent Dispute Chamber.
The members of G.S. Altshuller’s family express their gratitude to all who have supported and continue to support their efforts.
The Management of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation: www.altshuller.ru/management.asp
Executive director of the Official G.S. Altshuller Foundation:
Larisa Dmitrievna Komarcheva
E-mail: foundation@altshuller.ru
This press release may be freely published in mass communication outlets, on Internet sites and on electronic mailing lists in any language in full and as is, without any abbreviations, changes or additions.