OBI’s image needs repair – Kommersant FM
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The German OBI filed another lawsuit against the former Russian structure, demanding 25 million rubles. The retailer is forcing former partners to change the sign, Vedomosti writes. The Germans believe that the OBI brand is used illegally in Russia.
The seller of goods for repairs and home appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, but it has not yet accepted the application for consideration. Neither the Russian nor the German company is commenting on the situation, but the market believes that the main subject of the dispute is the trademark. OBI has been trying to protect him for months.
Details are in the Kommersant FM help:
The German OBI has been operating in Russia since 2003. In the spring of 2022, due to hostilities in Ukraine, the chain suspended the operation of 27 hypermarkets and then exited the Russian business. A few months later, the MAX group of investment and construction companies became the new owner of OBI structures. After this, the owners changed three times, and from April 2023 it became the Allonge company; journalists associate it with Senator Arsen Kanokov.
The Russian OBI should have changed its sign a year ago, but despite the registration of new trademarks and the official announcement, it never did. In June 2023, the German OBI unilaterally terminated the license agreement with a Russian legal entity for the use of its trademarks, and in November it filed its first lawsuit. He claimed that his former structure was ignoring requests to settle out of court and continued to illegally use the brand. The Russian OBI stated that they were “trying to neutralize material and reputational risks.”
Will the OBI brand remain in Russia? Anastasia Semenova, senior lawyer in the corporate practice of FTL Advisers, believes that the German company has a chance to win the case. True, then she herself may lose the rights to her trademark in Russia:
“The prospects for a new claim will depend on whether the court in the first claim establishes the fact of illegal use of trademarks. In this case, the German OBI may even demand in court the destruction of all counterfeit products, goods marked with the mark of a foreign company.
However, I would like to note that, despite the period of protection of German OBI trademarks until 2025 and 2031, their protection may be terminated early. Provided that the trademarks are not used in Russia continuously for three years. That is, even if the German OBI wins in court, but does not return to the Russian market in the future, the Russian company will have no obstacles to register an identical designation.”
OBI is a strong brand, and it is not surprising that the Russian company is in no hurry to abandon it, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors agree. This is not the only such dispute, noted Dmitry Markanov, managing partner of the Patentus patent office:
“Every company wants to take something else that’s been promoted, rather than invest in promoting its own. Now foreign companies, including those that have left the market, are faced with a situation where they are introducing something very similar to the market. You can look at the dispute between Jagermeister and the Kristall plant, when the plant released its alcoholic drink under a different name, but in very similar packaging.
With OBI the situation is even more serious; one trademark is used. And now, in fact, it is interesting to watch the development of this practice and what Russian courts will do. Will the use be prohibited or not, will large compensation be exacted or not? For example, Jägermeister lost the case.”
At the end of 2022, the total revenue of Russian OBI stores decreased by 36.5%, to 26 billion rubles. Currently, there are 24 stores operating under the OBI banner in 12 Russian cities. The retailer ranks eighth in the ranking of sellers of household goods and repairs, according to the Infoline agency.
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