According 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."
These renewed hotel patents cast even more doubt on the already-suspicious business or political relationship between Trump and the Kremlin that the president has repeatedly claimed does not exist.
Read the entire report on Trump's renewed Russian patents via the New York Times.
