Chechen businessman was allowed to put a “dot” in a cafe

The network of fast food restaurants “Vkusno – i Tochka” managed to defend the trademark of the same name in the Chamber for Patent Disputes of Rospatent. The latter refused to satisfy the complaint of the Chechen individual entrepreneur Kaluga Gagalov, who owns the It’s fine point brand. The decision was made on May 15th.

“Vkusno – and that’s it” opened in June 2022 on the site of the American chain McDonald’s, which decided to leave Russia and sell the business after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. The buyer was businessman Alexander Govor, who previously managed McDonald’s restaurants in Siberia as a franchisee. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but Govor himself called it symbolic and “much lower than the market.”

At the moment, the Vkusno – i Tochka network unites more than 850 outlets in 63 regions. At the end of 2022, the revenue of its main operating company Sistema PBO amounted to 73.5 billion rubles. The brand itself was registered in August 2022.

The main activity of IP Gagalov is restaurant activity. There is one fast food establishment in Grozny under the It’s Fine Tochka brand, according to 2GIS. Gagalov pointed out that both trademarks are similar due to the presence of the word “dot” in them. Given that both copyright holders are in the restaurant business, there is a possibility of brand confusion, his complaint says. At the same time, “It’s fine point” was registered in April 2017, which means it has priority. Based on this, Gagalov asked to cancel the registration of the Vkusno – and that’s the point brand. The company itself did not answer the questions of Vedomosti, it was not possible to contact Gagalov.

“System PBO” in the recall insisted that the main and defining in their sign is the word “Tasty”. In the eyes of consumers, “Tasty – and that’s it” is associated with the network that replaced McDonald’s, which means that mixing with “It’s fine is that” will not happen. In addition, the last brand is not widely known in Russia. Rospatent took the side of “Tasty – and that’s it”, believing that the trademarks are phonetically and in meaning different.

Stanislav Kaufman, the owner of the Kaufman brand agency, considers the decision to be the right one. Such disputes and claims, in his opinion, are initiated solely for the purpose of obtaining compensation. PBO System managed to win the dispute thanks to a strong evidence base, says Ruslan Gafurov, senior lawyer at Nevsky IP Law. He points out that the company presented the linguistic conclusions of doctors of philological sciences and sociological research, therefore, the prospects for the victory of an individual entrepreneur did not look promising.

The registration of the Vkusno – i dot brand is also disputed by other players. On May 18, the Chamber for Patent Disputes of Rospatent will consider the objections of the Best Japan company, which owns the trademark “Food – and that’s it!”.