Russian lawsuit over Stoli trademark revived

A US appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought forward by a state-run Russian company that claims it owns trademark rights to Stolichnaya Vodka.

A US appeals court has revived a long-running lawsuit over trademark rights to Stolichnaya Vodka

The Second Circuit ruled on Tuesday (5 January) that the Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport (FTE) has standing to sue Stolichnaya vodka for trademark rights to the brand, reports Law360.

It follows a 12-year-long dispute over who inherited the vodka brand when the Soviet Union collapsed – either the Russian Federation and FTE or the privatised “successor” to the Soviet firm that sold Stoli during the Cold War.

In 2004, FTE sued the successor companies and US Stoli distributors, but a trial judge decided in 2014 that the company lacked standing to sue in the US court, and the Russian government’s transfer of trademark rights to FTE was invalid under Russian law.

However, this decision was overturned this week when a panel of Second Circuit judges deemed the decision was not one for US courts to make.

“The declaration of a United States court that the executive branch of the Russian government violated its own law by transferring its own rights to its own quasi-governmental entity (FTE) would be an affront to the government of a foreign sovereign,” US Circuit judge Dennis Jacobs wrote for the panel.

As a result, FTE’s trademark lawsuit has been revived against successor company SPI Group and Stoli’s US distributors – Allied Domecq International Holdings BV and William Grant & Sons.

“We are gratified with the Second Circuit’s decision today,” said Daniel Bromberg, counsel for the FTE. “We look forward to proving on behalf of the Russian people that our client FTE is the true owner of the Stolichnaya trademarks, as courts in other countries have recognised.”

The Spirits Business has contacted SPI Group for a comment and is expecting a statement to be released later today.

In March 2015, SPI Group was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling of a Dutch court to return its Stolichnaya Vodka trademark in the Benelux region to the Russian state.