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Not the Kremlin’s Vodka
Rospatent, the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks, has sided with the federal state unitary enterprise Kremlin, a division of the presidential executive staff, in a dispute over the trademark for Kremlyovskaya vodka, as well as Kremlovskaja the Original, Kremlyovskaya premium vodka fine original quality and Kremlyovskoye beer and alcohol-free beer. Chairman of the Rospatent patent dispute chamber Sergey Bulba noted that Spasskaya Tower is depicted on the Kremlyovskaya vodka bottle, associating it directly with the Moscow Kremlin. The Moscow Kremlin is a trademark of federal state unitary enterprise Kremlin. “Kremlovskaya,” with various possible transcriptions, is the adjectival form of the work “Kremlin” in Russian.
Andrey Skurikhin, co-owner of SPI Group, maker of Kremlyovskaya vodka, said his company would appeal the decision. He said that the brand has no relation to the Moscow Kremlin and the tower on the bottle is “just a tower.” Legal experts say that, if federal state unitary enterprise Kremlin did not specifically register Spassky Tower as a trademark, its case it doubtful.
Kremlyovskaya was one of the most popular brands of vodka in Russia in the mid-1990s. In 1991, three businessmen from Odessa, Yakov Tilipman, Mark Nudel and Leonid Baranchuk, formed the Russian America joint venture to produce it. Later, the rights to the trademark were transferred to the Kremlyovskaya Group in Belgium, which was managed by Tilipman. In 1995, 5 million decaliters of Kremlyovskaya vodka were sold for $200 million. The brand was bought by Global Spirits Marketing in 1997, and by SPI Group in 2003. Market insiders estimate that it may have sold for $60 million the last time.
Today, Kremlyovskaya vodka occupies less than 0.1 percent of the Russian market for sub-premium vodka (i.e., those costing 150-240 rubles per half-liter bottle). The brand does better abroad, however.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 19, 2008
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