Meat factories arguing about brand of Moskvoretskaya sausage

On September 23, the IP Court will consider the claim of the Lyskovsky Meat Processing Plant, which demands to invalidate the refusal of the FAS to initiate a case on violation of antimonopoly legislation against Mikoyan Meat Processing Plant. The plaintiff points to unfair competition of the Mikoyan meat Processing Plant in the acquisition and use of the exclusive right to the Moskvoretskaya trademark.

Sergey Zuykov, managing partner of Zuykov and partners, told Vedomosti that when initiating a case on violation of antimonopoly legislation, the FAS, as a rule, is guided by the decision of the IP Court (if it was made). In this case, the court did not find violations in the acquisition and use of the Moskvoretskaya trademark, which is why the service refused the applicant, he said.

The first claim for recognition of the actions of the Mikoyan Meat Processing Plant for the acquisition and use of the Moskvoretskaya brand as an act of unfair competition was filed with the IP Court in October 2022 by Tsaritsynsky Combine. Then other companies became co-defendants in the case, including the Lyskovsky Meat Processing Plant. The plaintiffs pointed out that the recipe for Moskvoretskaya sausage was published back in 1970, at the same time this product was introduced into civil circulation. In addition, the requirements for boiled sausage products "Moskvoretsky shpikachki" were established by the national standard of the Russian Federation GOST R 52196-2003. Thus, the name has already been mentioned and used for labeling sausages by various manufacturers, which means, according to the plaintiffs, it has lost its distinctive ability.

In turn, the defendant notes that the Moskvoretskaya trademark was originally registered back in 1994 for the copyright holder Moscow Meat Processing Plant MIKOMS. He produced products under this brand until the beginning of 1998, after which he issued JSC AVK Eksima a written permission to use this brand. In 1999, AVK Eksima established Mikoyan Meat Processing Plant, which in 2004 applied for registration of Moskvoretskaya.

Previously, the Lyskovsky meat processing plant was involved in the case as a third party, therefore, the existence of a competitive relationship between it and the defendant was not established during the registration of the brand, Zuykov notes. If the plaintiff can prove his presence on the market (the website of the Lyskovsky meat processing plant indicates that the company was founded in November 1997 – Vedomosti), the FAS can satisfy his application, the lawyer emphasizes. In this case, the legal protection of the trademark will be invalidated – as if it had not been registered, explains Maxim Volkov, head of the Patentus dispute resolution practice.

Source: Vedomosti