Melling, Voitishkin & Partners succeeded in representing the Finnish company Nokia Corporation in a court action seeking the early termination of legal protection for all «NOKIA» series trademarks in Russia due to their non-use

The Intellectual Property Court dismissed the claims in full, applying comprehensive criteria for evaluating good faith of the parties’ positions and behavior. As a result, in a situation where the plaintiff’s true intent was not to use the trademarks but to obtain an unfair advantage related to the global fame of the NOKIA brand, the court issued a fair and well-grounded decision to protect the rights of the legitimate trademark owner.

The case turned out to be exceptionally challenging due to the plaintiff’s elaborate and multi-step procedural «maneuvers» aimed at over-complicating and dragging the proceedings. The plaintiff engineered a complex and largely artificial scheme to prove its legal «standing», which essential for filing such claims under Russian law. This required our team to respond with creative and unconventional countermeasures.

The cornerstone of our victory was a defense strategy that focused on demonstrating the bad-faith nature of the plaintiff’s «standing», while simultaneously highlighting the wide recognition of our client and its brands. Our IP litigation team succeeded in proving that the plaintiff’s legal standing was «malicious» across all the categories of goods and services, driven by the desire to exploit the advantages of the world-renowned NOKIA brand.

Following this successful outcome, all trademarks of the «NOKIA» series will maintain their full legal protection in Russia for all registered goods and services.

The legal team was led by Denis Khabarov, Partner and Head of the Intellectual Property practice, and included Partner Pavel Gorokhov and Associate Marianna Grigorova.