“This lawsuit will certainly go down in the history of judicial practice in Russia as the most inadequate and at the same time one of the most protracted,” said the president of Capital Life Life Insurance (former RGS Life) Yevgeny Giner, a spokesman conveyed his words. So Giner reacted to the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court (VS), which overturned the decision of the judicial board on Wednesday and upheld the decision of the Intellectual Property Rights Court (SIP) to review the claim of Rosgosstrakh against Capital Life Life Insurance for 151 billion rubles. about trademarks. In March, Vyacheslav Lebedev, the chairman of the Supreme Council, introduced the presidium: he asked the presidium to cancel the decision of the judicial board and uphold the decision of the SIP. This became a precedent - Lebedev made a submission to the Supreme Court for the first time since the Economic College was founded (since August 2014, when the merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court took place).
The Presidium of the Armed Forces prevented the possibility of abuse of the statute of limitations artificially created due to the prolonged tenure of an unscrupulous director, notes Andrey Elinson, managing partner A1 (representing Rosgosstrakh in the courts), whose words are quoted in the company's message. “Due to such abuses of the law, Rosgosstrakh suffered enormous losses,” he said. “I am sure that with a new trial, the case will be examined in full and comprehensively, taking into account the instructions of the Presidium of the Armed Forces.”
“We consider the result of the consideration by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the supervisory appeal a step towards restoring justice in this important process for us. We hope that A1’s involvement with their experience will make it possible to restore Rosgosstrakh’s rights, ”said Natalya Cheltsova, Vice President of Legal Affairs of PJSC IC Rosgosstrakh.
The Rosgosstrakh trademark case has been going on for two years now - since June 2018, the License Agreements between Rosgosstrakh and then RGS Life have been in effect for more than 12 years. They gave RGS of Life the right to use 13 Rosgosstrakh trademarks, paying quarterly 15,000 rubles each. for every. The parties signed the last such document in February 2017, it was registered with Rospatent on August 3, 2017 - a few weeks before Otkritie FC became the owner of Rosgosstrakh and soon he himself went over to the Central Bank for reorganization. RGS Life did not enter into a deal with the bank, and in 2018, President of PFC CSKA Evgeny Giner declared itself its owner.
The new owners of Rosgosstrakh did not like the terms of the contract - they went to court, wanting to terminate it and collect 2 billion rubles. for using the trademark in 2017; another about 149 billion rubles. Rosgosstrakh demanded compensation. The company considers the trademark agreement concluded at the previous owner to be unfair; it damages Rosgosstrakh. Rosgosstrakh pays “mere pennies” for using the RGS Life trademark, a company representative complained at one of the court sessions. Otkrytie Bank Management Board (owned by Rosgosstrakh) Mikhail Zadornov does not consider Giner to be the real owner of Capital Life: he is sure that Danil Khachaturov, the former owner of Rosgosstrakh, remains the real owner of the company.
In September last year, the SIP decided to forward the case for a new consideration, but the judicial board of the Supreme Court reversed this decision in December and upheld the decision of the court of first instance, which confirmed the legitimacy of the use of the “CSG life” of trademarks. Zadornov requested “to give instructions” to the court in resolving this dispute, shortly before the board meeting in December.
Capital Life emphasized that, despite Rosgosstrakh's statements about the non-market of the contract, the last payment for the use of trademarks was in September 2019 and was not returned by Rosgosstrakh as unreasonable. Rosgosstrakh retorted that the agency contract has not been executed since the beginning of 2017 and the insurer has not received any payments.
In his March submission to the Presidium, Lebedev pointed out a fundamental violation of the rule of law - the trial court still refused to conduct an examination to determine the market value of the trademark agreement. The court noted Lebedev, violated the principles of competition and did not provide the plaintiff with an opportunity to present evidence. And the judicial board mistakenly considered that the SIP went beyond its powers when it demanded a second examination of the evidence, the chairman of the Supreme Court considered.
Capital Life is confident that they are right, and transferring a case to the first instance is simply an extension of the time for consideration to make a final decision, the company representative said Giner: “I have no doubt that it will be in our favor.” The opponents' claims do not have a substantive legal base, the president of the company believes, which has already been repeatedly proved in courts of various instances. But Giner and the company are worried, “that such a long and consistent manipulation of the judicial system is possible in the country, including involving the chairman of the Armed Forces on the part of Rosgosstrakh, Otkrytie and A1, whose actions can only be called one word - raiding.”
The dispute after the determination of the presidium of the Armed Forces may well drag out and last another two years or even longer, says Sergey Zuykov, managing partner of Zuykov & Partners. Lebedev’s submission, the expert continues, states that the lower courts did not order an examination to determine the market value of the use of rights. The fact is that only the appointment of such an examination and its implementation can take about 6–9 months. So a quick decision, Zuikov concludes, is not worth the wait.
The Presidium of the Armed Forces prevented the possibility of abuse of the statute of limitations artificially created due to the prolonged tenure of an unscrupulous director, notes Andrey Elinson, managing partner A1 (representing Rosgosstrakh in the courts), whose words are quoted in the company's message. “Due to such abuses of the law, Rosgosstrakh suffered enormous losses,” he said. “I am sure that with a new trial, the case will be examined in full and comprehensively, taking into account the instructions of the Presidium of the Armed Forces.”
“We consider the result of the consideration by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the supervisory appeal a step towards restoring justice in this important process for us. We hope that A1’s involvement with their experience will make it possible to restore Rosgosstrakh’s rights, ”said Natalya Cheltsova, Vice President of Legal Affairs of PJSC IC Rosgosstrakh.
The Rosgosstrakh trademark case has been going on for two years now - since June 2018, the License Agreements between Rosgosstrakh and then RGS Life have been in effect for more than 12 years. They gave RGS of Life the right to use 13 Rosgosstrakh trademarks, paying quarterly 15,000 rubles each. for every. The parties signed the last such document in February 2017, it was registered with Rospatent on August 3, 2017 - a few weeks before Otkritie FC became the owner of Rosgosstrakh and soon he himself went over to the Central Bank for reorganization. RGS Life did not enter into a deal with the bank, and in 2018, President of PFC CSKA Evgeny Giner declared itself its owner.
The new owners of Rosgosstrakh did not like the terms of the contract - they went to court, wanting to terminate it and collect 2 billion rubles. for using the trademark in 2017; another about 149 billion rubles. Rosgosstrakh demanded compensation. The company considers the trademark agreement concluded at the previous owner to be unfair; it damages Rosgosstrakh. Rosgosstrakh pays “mere pennies” for using the RGS Life trademark, a company representative complained at one of the court sessions. Otkrytie Bank Management Board (owned by Rosgosstrakh) Mikhail Zadornov does not consider Giner to be the real owner of Capital Life: he is sure that Danil Khachaturov, the former owner of Rosgosstrakh, remains the real owner of the company.
In September last year, the SIP decided to forward the case for a new consideration, but the judicial board of the Supreme Court reversed this decision in December and upheld the decision of the court of first instance, which confirmed the legitimacy of the use of the “CSG life” of trademarks. Zadornov requested “to give instructions” to the court in resolving this dispute, shortly before the board meeting in December.
Capital Life emphasized that, despite Rosgosstrakh's statements about the non-market of the contract, the last payment for the use of trademarks was in September 2019 and was not returned by Rosgosstrakh as unreasonable. Rosgosstrakh retorted that the agency contract has not been executed since the beginning of 2017 and the insurer has not received any payments.
In his March submission to the Presidium, Lebedev pointed out a fundamental violation of the rule of law - the trial court still refused to conduct an examination to determine the market value of the trademark agreement. The court noted Lebedev, violated the principles of competition and did not provide the plaintiff with an opportunity to present evidence. And the judicial board mistakenly considered that the SIP went beyond its powers when it demanded a second examination of the evidence, the chairman of the Supreme Court considered.
Capital Life is confident that they are right, and transferring a case to the first instance is simply an extension of the time for consideration to make a final decision, the company representative said Giner: “I have no doubt that it will be in our favor.” The opponents' claims do not have a substantive legal base, the president of the company believes, which has already been repeatedly proved in courts of various instances. But Giner and the company are worried, “that such a long and consistent manipulation of the judicial system is possible in the country, including involving the chairman of the Armed Forces on the part of Rosgosstrakh, Otkrytie and A1, whose actions can only be called one word - raiding.”
The dispute after the determination of the presidium of the Armed Forces may well drag out and last another two years or even longer, says Sergey Zuykov, managing partner of Zuykov & Partners. Lebedev’s submission, the expert continues, states that the lower courts did not order an examination to determine the market value of the use of rights. The fact is that only the appointment of such an examination and its implementation can take about 6–9 months. So a quick decision, Zuikov concludes, is not worth the wait.
Business
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