Russian state enterprise wins vodka TM battle in Benelux

The Hague Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a Russian state enterprise owning the rights to the Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya and Stoli vodka brands.

Spirits International Group ( SPI Group), a company based in Luxembourg, had been using the three trademarks on its vodka.

On Tuesday, January 9, the court ruled that Russian state enterprise FKP Sojuzplodoimport is the rightful owner of the trademarks and ordered SPI Group to stop selling vodka under these names in the Benelux trading bloc, which consists of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

FKP said that the trademarks have always remained property of the Russian state since it was the USSR, and then when it became the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (now the Russian Federation).

FKP first sued SPI Group at the District Court of Rotterdam in 2003, claiming SPI Group is not the owner of the trademarks.

Joris van Manen, partner at Hoyng Rokh Monegier, the law firm that represented FKP, told WIPR that SPI must pay damages to FKP and the cost of the proceedings.

SPI must also pay the Russian state entity all the profits it has made from selling the vodka in the trading bloc since 1999.

Van Manen told WIPR that, after 15 years of litigation, FKP is happy with the outcome.

This isn’t the first legal battle that FKP and SPI Group have fought.

In October last year, the Federal Court of Appeal of Brazil ruled in favour of SPI Group, confirming its ownership of the trademarks.

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