Zuykov and partners secured a settlement agreement in the case of the CITIZEN trademark series

On April 1st, 2025, the Intellectual Property Court held a court hearing in the case No SIP-495/2022 to consider the claim of the foreign entity Citizen Tokei Kabushiki Kaisha (Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.) (Japan) for the early termination of the legal protection of trademarks under the certificates of the Russian Federation No 433392, No 565704, No 685412 "CITIZEN" in the territory of the Russian Federation in relation to the goods of the 07th, 09th and 11th Classes of the Nice Classification due to their non-use.

In this case, Zuykov and partners represented the interests of the defendant – a foreign entity Citizen Camera (HK) Limited (Hong Kong).

The defendant filed a petition with the Intellectual Property Court to approve the settlement agreement. According to the proposed agreement, the defendant considered it possible to issue a letter of consent to register the designation at the request of the Claimant as a trademark. The court concluded that the said settlement agreement does not violate the rights and legitimate interests of other persons, does not contradict the law, and therefore is subject to approval in the version submitted to the court.

The court's approval of the settlement agreement of the parties in accordance with Part 2 of Article 150 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is the basis for terminating the proceedings in this case.

Thus, the IP Court decided to satisfy the settlement agreement in case No IPC-495/2022 concluded between the foreign entity Citizen Tokei Kabushiki Kaisha (Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.) and the foreign entity Citizen Camera (HK) Limited, and to terminate the proceedings in case No IPC-495/2022.