What difficulties the owner of Oliviez brand faced in Uzbekistan
The owner of the trademark "Oliviez" has been fighting for his rights with an Uzbek company for several years. Lawyer of Legalmax - Alexander Lobanov helped understand this story.
Anhor.uz in partnership with Legalmax has already covered conflicts related to intellectual property. In this article, Anhor.uz and Alexander Lobanov spoke about the judicial protection of the trademark “Oliviez” in Uzbekistan.
Since January 2021, “Quartlink Holding Limited” company, the owner of the trademark “Oliviez”, has decided not to continue contractual relations with the Uzbek company, previously producing mayonnaise products under this trademark on the basis of a license agreement.
The rights holder tried to resolve the situation through negotiations repeatedly, but since they were unsuccessful, he went to court.
Despite the ban imposed by the Intellectual Property Agency and the Antimonopoly Committee on the use of the trademark "Oliviez" by the Uzbek company, the production of mayonnaise products did not stop. The instructions of state bodies have not been fulfilled and no one is responsible for this.
In addition, the Uzbek company decided that the trademark, which had been protected in Uzbekistan since 2008, was registered illegally and filed a claim to invalidate the registration with the Appeal Board of the Ministry of Justice.
One of the arguments for the illegality of the registration of the trademark "Oliviez" was the opinion that this was one of the names of the salad "Olivier" and it indicated the characteristics of the product, and therefore could not be registered as a trademark. In other words, according to the Uzbek company, the consumer identifies mayonnaise "Oliviez" exclusively with the New Year's salad.
The Appeal Board dismissed such a claim, realizing that the trademark was registered legally not only in the territory of Uzbekistan, but also in fourteen states.
However, the decision of the Appeal Board and the registration of the trademark "Oliviez" were declared invalid by the decision of the Tashkent Interdistrict Administrative Court.
Such a circumstance could not be left without a proper legal response, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation expressed concern about the current events, sending a corresponding note to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia.
Moreover, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation were not immune, sending relevant requests to the authorized bodies of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Appeal Board also responded and, along with Quartlink Holding Limited, filed an appeal to the Tashkent City Administrative Court.
In support of the foreign rights holder, the prosecutor's office of Shaykhontohur district of Tashkent, filed an appeal protest against the decision of the court of first instance. Thanks to an objective, comprehensive consideration of the dispute in the appellate instance chaired by Judge Ulugbek Almamedov, the decision of the court of first instance was overturned, the appeals and the appeal protest were satisfied.
But, despite the obviousness of the situation, the Uzbek company is still trying to terminate the legal rights to the trademark "Oliviez" and use in its own interests the resources invested by the investor for the development and promotion of this brand in Uzbekistan.
The company-rights holder has received a writ of appeal from the opponent and now a trial in the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan is expected.