REVEALED: Russia abruptly approved long dormant Trump patents on Election Day

[deminks]

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/revealed-russia-abruptly-approved-long-dormant-trump-patents-on-election-day/

ccording to the New York Times, the abrupt renewal of unused and decades-old patents belonging to President Donald Trump in Russia are further cause for suspicion about the president’s business ties to the Kremlin.

Multiple Russian patents for the names of Trump hotels and other branded products that were applied for in the 90’s and early 2000’s and set for expiration were, according to the Times, granted renewal between April and December 2016. Trump never managed to build the hotels, and the patents remained unused and inactive before the Trump Organization applied for their renewal last year.

The Times noted that although renewal of patents with Russia’s Rospatent agency isn’t in itself out of the ordinary, the timeline and inactivity of the Trump patents renewed is. Four of the patents were renewed on November 8, 2016.

“Under normal circumstances,” the Times report stated, “renewing trademarks in Russia is generally a routine matter, and there is nothing to suggest from the few public records available that Mr. Trump was shown favoritism. Still, extensions are not guaranteed and can be subject to challenge — particularly if, as in this case, the trademarks went unused for years, according to interviews with a half-dozen lawyers specializing in intellectual property law.”

(end snip)

NYT article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/us/politics/russia-trump-trademarks.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&mtrref=t.co&_r=1

(snip)

Beyond the questions about Russian government approvals, the trademark renewals cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s oft-stated insistence that he has no business interests in Russia. Mr. Trump has made the claims in response to investigations of possible collusion between his associates and Russia during and after the election.

In January, he wrote on Twitter, “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” He told NBC News in May that he has “no investments in Russia, none whatsoever.” And on Thursday, he expressed frustration on Twitter over scrutiny of his “non-dealings” in Russia.

(end snip)

Why lie?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Oh, that's just a coincidence.

[dalton99a]

2. It's called a beautiful coincidence

[Atman]

4. Weird story. A patent is for a physical invention.

Trademarks are for business names. One would think a so-called news outlet would at least attempt to do a little proofing/fact checking.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Raw Story is sometimes sloppy. They cite articles from other sources,

but not always accurately. The New York Times article they reference uses the term "trademark," which would be the accurate description. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/us/politics/russia-trump-trademarks.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&mtrref=t.co&_r=1 I don't know why Raw Story didn't use the same term since they were citing that article. The Russian agency that controls intellectual property licenses is called Rospatent, but that still doesn't explain why Raw Story didn't use the more accurate term.

[Ms. Toad]

8. The media pretty frequently gets the law wrong,

and especially so in the world of IP.

But I'm pretty sure I heard this very soon after the election - so I'm surprised to see it being touted as newly discovered.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. "Russias Rospatent agency" ... suggests the Russians may refer to them as patents. (Ros -- Russia)

Traditions surrounding usage of such terms has varied historically, and probably from one country/language to another. The origin of our modern term patent traces back to "letters patent", from the medieval Latin litterae patentes.


{A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern patent (referred to as a utility patent or design patent in United States patent law) granting exclusive rights in an invention (or a design in the case of a design patent).}

[nycbos]

6. I am SHOCKED SHOCKED to find gambling going on here.

[procon]

7. First China gave Trump a bunch of patent approvals and now Russia.

These are valuable gifts that will greatly profit Trump. Does this come under the emoluments law since Trump will obviously benefit from whatever products, goods and services that are now covered by all those patents.

[kentuck]

10. He got 35 contracts and licenses approved by China!

Just about every business under the sun: Real estate, banking, hotels, escort services, you name it...