The workshop was attended by representatives of the government, academic and professional communities, and international business and consulting industry. The participants shared their expertise and state-of-the-art approaches aimed at identifying and resolving any issues pertaining to regulation of relationships and IP protection in the Russian Federation. The workshop included both offline events in Saint Petersburg and online.

Maria was invited to attend the workshop as an expert on IP protection in digital and analogue sphere and spoke on Practical Protection of Exclusive Rights to Luxury Brands in Digital Environment: New Opportunities and New Challenges.

Maria focused on the booming digital art market in Russia and worldwide and accepts the related need for regulation of the relevant relationships:

“The blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT) technologies enable cryptoart authors and right owners to identify the original digital item, which ensures transferability and commercialization of such items. As the market for such items grows rapidly – according to analysts, the NFT sales reached $2.5 billion in the first six months of 2021 – it appears that we need a legal assessment of such items and a regulatory framework for the relevant relationships. In addition, pending such legal assessment, the existing law provisions may be extrapolated on such items and IP protection mechanisms may be used by analogy of law or analogy of statute (subject to certain conditions being satisfied, such as KYC procedures completed, due contracts made, independent guarantees issued, risks hedged, etc.),” Maria said.

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Rybalkin, Gortsunyan & Partners (RGP) is a fast-paced law firm of the next generation, combining a leading Russian practice focusing on international dispute resolution and a high-end corporate practice servicing complex transactions and projects.

We support clients from all over the world in their business dealings in our key practice areas involving Russia and CIS countries. In addition, our firm offers unparalleled expertise in foreign legal matters to Russian companies with significant international presence.

We are a cohesive team of seasoned professionals with a background in leading international law firms.

Our lawyers have worked on the largest corporate deals, investigations and disputes in the history of modern Russia and represented Russian companies in over 170 jurisdictions worldwide.

Contact person:
Maria Bannova
mbannova@rgp.legal