The Kaluga Distillery (KLVZ) Kristall requires early termination of the legal protection of the Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest trademarks due to their non-use. With such a claim, the manufacturer of strong drinks filed an intellectual property court. Now the mentioned brands are assigned to Disney Enterprises Inc. The last hearing in this case was held in February of this year, then the court postponed the preliminary hearing to August, as the foreign person must submit a response to the statement of claim and prove the use of trademarks by this time.
KLVZ “Crystal” declined to comment. A request to Disney remained unanswered at the time of publication.
KLVZ “Kristall” is located in Obninsk (Kaluga region), last year the company produced 1.35 million decalitres of alcoholic beverages. The plant’s portfolio includes the flagship vodka brands Solovushka, Bionica, Voronetskaya and Charochka, and it also bottles Khortytsya under a contract. Revenue KLVZ “Crystal” in 2022 amounted to 2.2 billion rubles. (+48.3% year-on-year), net profit – 115 million rubles. (+138%). The plant, according to SPARK-Interfax, actively uses the names of popular films in its products. He, in particular, owns the rights to the Fantomas / “Fantomas” and Gladiator / “Gladiator” trademarks. He also filed two trademark applications for Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead man’s Chest. Their protection expires in May-June 2023. If Rospatent registers them for the enterprise, then only it will have exclusive rights to use them, say lawyers interviewed by Vedomosti.
KLVZ “Crystal” most likely plans to produce strong drinks under the brands “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
At the end of last year, the plant expanded its production license: according to the register of Rosalkogolregulirovanie, it can now produce gin, rum, whiskey, brandy and cognac. For these purposes, as Kommersant-Chernozemye wrote earlier, the owner of the enterprise, Pavel Pobedkin, acquired a site in the Lipetsk region and moved several production lines from the Kaluga region to it.
Gleb Sakhrai, managing partner of PRT Group, notes that the audience of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” is very large and actually coincides with the target audience of mid-price rum. So such a brand, in his opinion, will be in demand. Aleksey Andreev, a partner at the Depot branding agency, agrees with him, who believes that such a brand is definitely not suitable for vodka, but gin or rum can be produced under this name. Of course, the volume of consumption of these types of strong alcohol is significantly lower than that of vodka, but this is not a reason to refuse to strengthen these positions due to Jack Sparrow’s physiognomy on the label, the expert believes. He adds that billions have already been invested in the promotion of licensed entertainment brands and the loyalty of some of the mass buyers to them is unrealistically high.
Lawyers interviewed by Vedomosti say that the chances that the court will satisfy the claim of KRVZ Kristall are quite high. “If the right holder has not produced alcoholic beverages under these brands over the past three years, it is quite possible to expect a decision in favor of the plaintiff,” said Vladimir Ozhereliev, head of the intellectual property practice at DRC law firm. Perhaps Disney will focus on the popularity of its signs and on the fact that the KLVZ Kristall abuses its rights by challenging well-known brands, adds Sergey Zuykov, managing partner of Zuykov and Partners.
Ozherelyev also notes that the disputed designation is not only a trademark, but also a work protected by copyright, so the plaintiff can only rely on the use of a text designation, not a graphic one.
According to the director of the Center for Research on Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets Vadim Drobiz, out of 1.15 billion liters of strong alcohol that is now produced in Russia, gin, rum, whiskey, tequila, absinthe and so on. accounts for only about 100 million liters. He recalls that at the end of 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade included alcohol in the list of goods for parallel imports. Russian manufacturers cannot replace the volume of deliveries that have been eliminated due to US and European sanctions, and besides, this year they will face serious competition from imported goods, sums up Drobiz.