New Marketplace Rules: Integration with Rospatent and the Platform Economy Law – What This Means for Right Holders

2026 could become one of the most significant years for the regulation of marketplaces in Russia. Two major changes are occurring simultaneously: platforms are beginning to integrate with Rospatent databases, and the law on the platform economy comes into force in October. For rights holders, this means that brand protection rules on Wildberries, Ozon, and other marketplaces are starting to change, both in terms of preventing violations and in terms of platform liability.

Integration of marketplaces with Rospatent: what is changing

One of the most discussed changes of 2026 is the integration of marketplaces with Rospatent's information resources. This will enable platforms to automatically cross-reference intellectual property data with information in state registers, gradually shifting from a "reactive" model to a preliminary verification model.

Previously, the process often worked like this: a seller would list a product, the right holder would spot an infringement and file a complaint, and only then would the platform take action. Now, marketplaces will be able to prevent some potential conflicts at the listing stage by verifying information directly against registry data. Specifically, this means that using a brand without confirmed legal grounds could become more difficult as early as the product card publication stage.

Marketplaces will thus be able to verify data on right holders and the following intellectual property objects:

• Trademarks;

• Inventions and utility models;

• Industrial designs;

• Geographical indications;

• Appellations of origin.

At first glance, these changes appear to be a long-awaited solution to the issue of counterfeit goods. However, a total disappearance of infringements is not yet to be expected. Even with automatic verification, common workarounds will persist, such as intentional brand misspellings, the use of similar marks, listing "alternatives" without direct trademark mentions, and copying brand styles without obvious violations in the listing title.

Furthermore, the system's effectiveness will depend on how up-to-date the registry data is and how correctly the platforms' internal processes are configured.

For right holders, this leads to an important conclusion: the legal formalization of intellectual property rights (such as trademark registration) is becoming an even more valuable asset. If rights are not properly or correctly registered, relying on automatic protection will be difficult.

Law on the Platform Economy 2026: What is Changing

The second major change is the entry into force of the law on the platform economy on October 1, 2026. The document introduces uniform rules for intermediary digital platforms, including marketplaces. Among the law's objectives are increasing the transparency of platform operations and distributing responsibility between the platform and sellers.

For rightsholders, this is important primarily because marketplaces are becoming more formalized participants in regulation.

The law strengthens requirements for platforms' internal procedures: partner verification, transparency of product listing rules, and interaction with market participants. A clearer system for regulating intermediary platforms and state control is also being introduced.

In practice, this may lead to the following consequences:

• It will be more difficult for platforms to ignore systemic violations of intellectual property rights. While previously some processes were based only on the internal regulations of marketplaces, many of them will now be regulated by law;

• The role of formalized procedures will increase: recording and appealing violations, confirming rights to intellectual property objects – all of this becomes even more important;

• The online retail market will gradually move toward more active preventive moderation of product listings.

Why it's too early for rightsholders to relax

It is logical to assume that integration with Rospatent and the new law will solve the counterfeit problem on their own. However, in practice, brand protection will likely simply move to a new level. Thus, while the main task used to be identifying violations, the speed of response and the quality of handling the issue are now becoming increasingly important.

This may be influenced by the fact that instead of direct brand usage, unscrupulous sellers will switch to more complex masking schemes, some of which are already used in practice (similar names, visual copying, manipulation of product descriptions, temporary listings, switching seller accounts, etc.). Therefore, market monitoring will not disappear - only its role will change.

In this regard, 2026 is a good time for rightsholders to review their brand protection strategy.

The minimum that needs to be checked:

• Whether trademarks are registered;

• Whether information about the rightsholder is up to date;

• Whether systematic monitoring of marketplaces is set up;

• How quickly and effectively violations are recorded;

• How the appeals and enforcement process is structured.

This is especially relevant for brands that are already facing regular counterfeiting.

It is obvious that in the new regulatory environment, the winners will not be the companies that simply file complaints, but those that know how to build a systematic defense. This is why many rightsholders are gradually moving from manual work to specialized solutions - such as ZIPDetect, which ensures not only the detection of violations but also their prompt elimination.

What's the bottom line?

The integration of marketplaces with Rospatent should make life more difficult for unscrupulous sellers, particularly those using others' trademarks, while the law on the platform economy makes the interaction between platforms, sellers, and rightsholders more formal and regulated.

For businesses, this means that brand protection is becoming not a one-time legal reaction, but a continuous risk management function. The sooner a company adapts to the new rules, the less likely it is to face the large-scale distribution of counterfeit goods on marketplaces.