Multinational payment-card services corporation Visa has filed requests in Russia to register two trademarks, prompting speculation about a potential return of the California-headquartered company to the country’s market.
The filings were spotted this week by local media on Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property register. The trademarks include a classic blue Visa logo and its variant adorned with yellow and blue stripes.
While the development has prompted rumors of a looming return of the company into the Russian market, there was no official information readily available on the potential move.
The emergence of the Visa logos on Russia’s intellectual property registry could actually be a precaution against trademark squatting, a legally questionable practice of registering trademarks similar or identical to pre-existing ones that were abandoned. The squatters then ‘return’ trademarks for a ransom to their original owners or use the well-known brands to boost their own products.
Visa, as well as its competitor MasterCard, suspended operations in Russia in 2022, early into the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Servicing of cards issued before the move was taken over by Russia’s National System of Payment Cards (NSPK). For end users, the change effectively meant the Russian-issued cards stopped working abroad.
The suspension of operations by the two card-servicing majors has negatively affected the Russian market, NSPK boss Dmitry Dubinin admitted earlier this year. It also gave a major boost to the development and spread of Russia’s homegrown payment card servicing system, Mir, he said.