Russian Baltika has registered the Zatecky Gus beer brand

The Zatecky Gus beer brand has changed its registration from Czech to Russian, and the main legal entity of Baltika has received the rights to it.

Zatecky Gus entered the Russian market in 2009. Baltika initially tried to register the brand itself but was refused permission by Rospatent. As a result, the brand was registered to its Czech structure Garfio Czech Republic s.r.o., in Russia Baltika began to produce it under license.

In 2008, Baltika became part of the Danish Carlsberg Group. Baltika's international and local brands became part of its conflict with the Carlsberg Group after the Carlsberg Group transferred the business to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency in July 2023.

The re-registration of Zatecky Gus could take place either to protect the brand or, conversely, within the framework of global agreements on its division. There are no restrictions on the transfer of rights to brands from "unfriendly countries" to Russian structures if their value does not exceed 15 million rubles, says Lyudmila Lukyanova, adviser to Forward Legal. The deal, she said, could have been carried out through agreements on the alienation of exclusive rights. Patent attorney Sergey Zuykov explains that such a procedure usually takes 1.5–2 months. Lyudmila Lukyanova does not exclude that the decision on the transfer could have been made for security reasons: to prevent risks associated with disputes on the part of the Czech company. Sergey Zuykov suggests that we may also discuss the global agreements between Baltika and Carlsberg on the division of assets.

Source: Kommersant