The Intellectual Property Rights Court upheld the judicial acts of two lower instances, which recovered about 42 million rubles from the Ukrainian company "Motor Sich "for the illegal use of a series of trademarks"Mi" /Mi.
The lawsuit was filed by JSC "Mil and Kamov National Helicopter Construction Center", which is part of Russian Helicopters of Rostec Corporation. The plaintiff owns a series of trademarks " Mi "/Mi, "Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M. L. Mil", MIL Moscow Helicopter Plant.
According to Prime, the lawsuit filed in December 2019 stated that Motor Sich positions the Mi-8T helicopter modernization service in the Mi-8MSB profile as the creation of a new type of helicopter, while using the Mi-8MSB and Mi-8MSB designations on its website to advertise its products and services.
Motor Sich did not recognize the claim, referring to the principle of exhaustion of rights. According to the defendant, he does not violate the plaintiff's trademark rights, since he modifies the Mi-8 helicopters produced by the plaintiff himself. The first instance partially agreed with the plaintiff's arguments. The court concluded that the defendant does not produce the category of goods "vehicles", but at the same time violates its rights to brands for the category of services "repair and maintenance of vehicles". The court banned the use of brands only for repair and maintenance.
But the Court of Appeal in April, citing GOST, pointed out that the terms "modernization" and "modification" refer more to the creation of products. In this case, the improvement of the characteristics of the aircraft is the manufacture of a new type of aircraft, and not repair or maintenance, the court noted. The appeal extended the ban on the use of disputed brands by the defendant to the category of goods "vehicles", which is what the plaintiff sought.
It should be noted, says Eadaily, that Russian Helicopters is one of the world leaders in the helicopter industry, the only developer and manufacturer of helicopters in the Russian Federation. It consists of five helicopter factories, two design bureaus, as well as enterprises for the production and maintenance of components, aircraft repair plants and a service company.
