Rospatent Appeals Moscow Court Decision in 'Putin-Medvedev' Vodka Trademark Case

Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) has recently appealed against Moscow Commercial Court’s decision stating that Rospatent’s refusal to register the “Volodya i Medvedi” (Volodya and the bears) trademark is illegal.

Earlier this year Rospatent refused to grant to Royalty, the Russian beverage producer, trademark protection for the brand of vodka that makes reference to the names of Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev.

Volodya is a nickname for Vladimir and Medvedi, or bears, sounds similar to the last name Medvedev.

Royalty appealed before the Moscow Commercial Court against the Rospatent’s decision and won the case on September 12, 2011.

At the time of going to press, additional details about the appeal brought by Rospatent against the Moscow Commercial Court were not available.

The “Volodya i Medvedi” vodka is currently sold in Russia.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI)