Soyuzplodoimport

In the mid-1960s, the trademarks of classic Russian vodkas, among which were Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya and Russkaya, belonged to the USSR and brought a multi-million dollar income to the country's budget.

On June 30, 1966, the USSR Union Ministry of Foreign Trade established the All-Union Association Soyuzplodoimport (since 1990 - VVO Soyuzplodoimport), in whose name the trademarks Moskovskaya, Stolichnaya and Russkaya were registered in 1969. One of the main activities of VO Soyuzplodoimport was the export of traditional Russian vodkas under these brands.

In the early 1990s, in the course of general privatization, the management of the BBO Soyuzplodoimport began to take steps to transform into a joint-stock company by issuing shares for the entire value of the enterprise’s assets. However, the order and sequence of actions for the implementation of privatization were not followed, which led to the incompleteness of the process of transforming the BBO Soyuzplodoimport into a joint-stock company.

After the incorporation of the company Soyuzplodoimport, which owned trademarks, in 1991, the signs were supposed to be transferred to Soyuzplodoimport, on the basis of succession. But on May 13, 1991, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the RSFSR appealed to the chairman of the State Committee on Inventions and Discoveries under the USSR State Committee on Science and Technology against the registration of certain trademarks registered in the name of TSO Soyuzplodoimport, including the commodity sign "Capital". The protest was partially satisfied and since August 7, 1991, the Stolichnaya trademark has lost legal protection. That is, Soyuzplodoimport owns the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademarks in the United States and Europe, but in the Russian Federation the possibility of their belonging to someone was denied.

On April 8, 1994, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin authorized Prime Minister Vladimir S. Chernomyrdin to address the issue of “ensuring the legal protection of denominations intended for designating world famous Russian vodkas”, and to review the chairman of the Russian Federation Committee on Patents and Trademarks cancel the decision of August 7, 1991 on cancellation of registrations of these trademarks. On May 6, 1994, the Chairman of Rospatent canceled the decision of August 7, 1991 to cancel the registration of trademarks, and Soyuzplodoimport was recognized as the legal owner of the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademarks ^[3] .

In April 1996, Soyuzplodoimport CJSC changed its name to Soyuzplodoimport CJSC and in 1997, bypassing the legislation of the Russian Federation, ceded the trademarks Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya and others worldwide affiliated to Yuri Shefler’s private company CJSC Soyuzplodimport ”, which is not formally associated with the Soyuzplodoimport BBO and is located abroad.

In 1999, Soyuzplodimport CJSC was renamed Plodovaya Company OJSC, which illegally appropriated and subsequently ceded the rights to foreign and international trademarks of Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya and other Dutch offshore company Spirits International NV affiliated to it

The following year, the right to sell Stolichnaya in the United States was bought by the British company Allied Domecq.

In 2000, the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit against Plodovaya Company and the Moscow Registration Chamber with the Arbitration Court of Moscow requesting invalidation of clause 2 of the Plodovaya Company OJSC charter, according to which the company was declared the legal successor of the BBO Soyuzplodoimport », And to oblige the Moscow Registration Chamber to register changes to the charter of OJSC Plodovaya Company, excluding the contested part of the charter. These claims were satisfied, the court ruled that since the transformation of one enterprise to another means the cessation of the existence of the reorganized enterprise, the fact that one of the founders indicated the TSO “Soyuzplodoimport” in the documents on the creation of Soyuzplodimpimport JSC, means that the latter was not reorganized , continued to exist after the creation of Soyuzplodoimport CJSC and legally exists to date, and the founders of Soyuzplodoimport CJSC actually created a new legal entity Itso, unrelated to the BB "Soyuzplodoimport." Since this new legal entity was not and could not be the assignee of the VOU “Soyuzplodoimport”, the entry in the claimant’s statute of such succession is illegal. In the end, the decision of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation , which left this decision in force, it was found that the Soyuzplodoimport JSC and, therefore, Plodovaya Company OJSC are not the legal successors of the Soiuzplodoimport VTO ^[4] . Rospatent re-registered signs on the state represented by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation .

In 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture established the federal state-owned enterprise Soyuzplodoimport ^[5] , and on October 26, 2001 the rights to 17 trademarks, including Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya, Russkaya, and others were registered in the name of the Russian Federation represented by the Ministry of Agriculture Russia . On April 9, 2002, in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1741-p of December 29, 2001, the right to use and dispose of 17 trademarks belonging to the Russian Federation was transferred to the Soyuzplodoimport enterprise. ^[6]

Since 2002, lawsuits on the return of the Stolichnaya brand and several other well-known vodka brands under the control of the PC Soyuzplodoimport have been constantly going on abroad. ^[7]

February 12, 2015 in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 117 dated February 12, 2015. The Government of the Russian Federation endowed Soyuzplodoimport with exclusive rights to trademarks previously owned by the company.

From 2002 to 2009, Vladimir Loginov held the post of director general of the FKP Soyuzplodoimport. ^[eight]

From July to December 2009, the company was managed by the general director Churkin Alexander Nikolaevich. ^[9]

From December 2009 to July 2018, Soyuzplodoimport FKP was headed by Igor Olegovich Aleshin . ^[ten]

On February 12, 2019, Maklakov Alexey Vitalyevich was appointed Director General of the FKP Soyuzplodoimport. ^[eleven]

Deputy General Directors: Kosyrev Sergey Martovich, Eliseeva Svetlana Viktorovna. ^[12]

Intellectual Property Protection

Since 2003, FC Soyuzplodoimport has been carrying out activities to restore the rights of the Russian Federation to the trademarks “Stolichnaya”, “Moskovskaya” and others around the world.

• In July 2003, the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization recognized FKP Soyuzplodoimport as the legal owner of the international trademarks “Stolichnaya”, “Moskovskaya”, “Lemon”, “Zubrovka”, “Sibirskaya”, “Russkaya”, as well as the trademark “Soviet Sparkling ”(Soviet champagne).
• In August 2003, the Appeals Commission of the State Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Standardization, Metrology and Patents revoked the registration of trademarks registered earlier at Soyuzplodoimport CJSC (Plodovaya Company), and registered them with Soyuzplodoimport.
• On January 6, 2005, the Romanian Patent Office issued a decision recognizing Soyuzplodoimport PCF as the owner of state trademarks.
• On September 19, 2005, the Venezuelan Patent Office decided to invalidate concessions of state trademarks of a company belonging to the SPI group. Soyuzplodoimport FKP was recognized as the owner of these marks.
• On June 14, 2006, the Rotterdam Circuit Court ruled that the conversion of the BBO Soyuzplodoimport into a joint stock company did not take place, and the actions of the SPI group on the acquisition of the Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademarks were illegal. The court also ruled that the designation “Russian vodka” on SPI products is misleading consumers, since the product was not produced in Russia.
• On June 7, 2007, the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg, France) made a decision recognizing decisions of Russian courts, on the basis of which the rights to trademarks are recognized by the Russian Federation, consistent with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms .
• On April 30, 2008, the Sofia City Court ( Bulgaria ) issued a decision according to which it provided legal protection for the trademarks “Stolichnaya”, “Russkaya”, “Soviet Wine Sparkling” in the territory of Bulgaria FKP “Soyuzplodoimport”.
• On March 13, 2009, the Supreme Court of Cassation of the Republic of Bulgaria recognized FKP Soyuzplodoimport as the sole holder of the international registration of the trademarks Stolichnaya, Russkaya, and Soviet wine sparkling in Bulgaria.
• On March 3, 2010, the Brazilian Supreme Court declared valid in Brazil the decision of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation on the absence of a succession between Soyuzplodimport BBO and a joint-stock company, which, using similar names, made several illegal transactions that led to the assignment of state trademarks to foreign companies to SPI group ^[13]
• On July 24, 2012, the Court of Appeal of the Hague ruled in favor of Soyuzplodoimport in a court dispute over the rights to the trademarks “Stolichnaya” and “Moskovskaya”, rejecting the complaint of Spirits International, and thus confirmed the decision of the court of first instance, recognizing that Spirits International obtained trademark rights in an illegal manner.
• On December 20, 2013, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed the rights of FKP Soyuzplodoimport for the trademarks “Stolichnaya” and “Moskovskaya” and upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal of The Hague, which recognized the validity of the conclusions of the Rotterdam District Court on the legality of the transfer of rights to the disputed trademarks of FKP Soyuzplodimpimp and decided to return the case to the first instance to make a decision on the transfer of trademark rights to Soyuzplodoimport.
• On March 25, 2015, the District Court of Rotterdam ruled Spirits International to terminate the supply of products under the trademarks “Stolichnaya”, “Moskovskaya” and to amend the name of the holder of these trademarks in the Benelux Patent Register.
• On January 5, 2016, the US Court of Appeals overturned a decision by which Soyuzplodoimport cannot challenge the right to the vodka brand Stolichnaya from the SPI Group. On March 29, 2016, the Manhattan Court of Appeal upheld its decision of January 5, 2016, according to which Soyuzplodoimport has full grounds to dispute the rights to Stolichnaya trademarks in the United States and rejected the petition of the SPI companies for revision.
• On January 9, 2018, the Court of Appeal of the City of The Hague (Netherlands) confirmed that the trademarks “Stolichnaya” and “Moskovskaya” belong to the FKP “Soyuzplodoimport” ^[14] and ruled that Spirits International, which challenged this decision, should stop selling vodka under the trademarks “Stolichnaya” , “Moskovskaya” and “Stoli” in the territory of the Benelux countries, and is also obliged to pay FKP “Soyuzplodoimport” the amount of damage caused by the unlawful use of these trademarks.