St. Petersburg arbitration prohibited Carlsberg from terminating agreements with Baltika

Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region satisfied petition of the Russian brewing company Baltika to the Danish group of companies Carlsberg Breweries A/S for interim measures. According to decision court, the Danish company will not be able to terminate the license agreement with Baltika at least until the completion of the consideration of the case on the merits.

Judge Polina Raguzina ruled that Rospatent (the agency involved in the case as a third party) is prohibited from registering any changes in the controversial licensing agreements relating to the brands Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Seth & Riley’s Garage, Holsten and LAV until the completion of the proceedings. As noted in the ruling on the imposition of interim measures, the prohibition “is aimed at protecting production, preserving property and protects the plaintiff from unjustified, if recognized, termination of rights to trademarks as a result of any unfair actions.”

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 15. In its lawsuit, Baltika challenges the legality of Carlsberg Breweries A/S’s unilateral refusal of the framework agreement on supplies and licenses, which gave the Russian company the right to produce products under the international and regional brands of the Danish holding.

On October 3, Carlsberg announced that it had terminated licensing agreements with the Baltika brewing company. She named this step is a response to President Vladimir Putin’s decree providing for the “effective nationalization” of Carlsberg’s Russian assets.

On July 16, Mr. Putin signed decree, according to which the shares of foreign companies in Baltika are transferred to the temporary ownership of the Federal Property Management Agency. At that time, 98.56% belonged to Carlsberg Sverige Aktiebolag (Swedish subsidiary of Carlsberg), 1.35% to Hoppy Union and 0.09% to Carlsberg Deutschland GmbH (German subsidiary of Carlsberg). At the same time, the shares of the French company Danone came under state control.

Read more in the article “Kommersant” “Carlsberg pours out Baltika”.

Alexander Kislov