The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine has sent the dispute over the Corvalolum well-known brand to the court of lowest instance for repeated hearing and partially satisfied cassation claims of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine and PJSC Farmak, annulling the ruling of the appeal court and the ruling of the court of lower instance.
Earlier, the Kyiv business court of appeals under the counterclaim of PrJSC Darnitsa Pharmaceutical Firm revoked the decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade recognizing the designation Corvalolum as well-known.
“PJSC Farmak stands for civilized competition and for many years it has been defending its rights to the Corvalolum well-known brand. We defend our right only to the brand designation,” Farmak Legal Director Dmytro Taranchuk said.
He said that “the medicine itself and its components are not protected by a patent, and it is not protected in Ukraine from the point of view of intellectual property.”
“A similar medicine can be produced by any manufacturer who will prove its quality and effectiveness and undergo all the required licensing procedures. But under a different name, under its own brand,” the lawyer said.
AXA Insurance and AXA Life Insurance (both based in Kyiv) from July 1, 2019 changed their names to ARX and ARX Life, the insurance companies said in a press release.
“ARX in Latin means “fortress, castle, citadel.” The name sounds succinctly in the spirit of modern trends and reflects the main attribute of the insurance business – reliability,” the press service said.
ARX insurance company and ARX Life insurance company are the assignee of AXA Insurance and AXA Life Insurance. The companies continue working with all banks, car dealers, partners in a regional network, corporate clients, as well as with assisting companies and contractors.
The main shareholder of ARX is the Canadian holding Fairfax Limited.
According to the press release, Andriy Peretiazhko is chairman of the company’s board, Maksym Mezhebitsky is his first deputy, Viacheslav Havrylenko is deputy board chairman and since June 12 he is Director General of ARX Life.
Intertop Ukraine LLC (Kyiv), founded by MTI Holding, plans to open Ukraine’s first mono-brand store of the U.S. outdoor brand The North Face and eight more stores in the River Shopping trade and entertainment center with a total area of 140,000 square meters being built in Darnytsky district in Kyiv. The press service of River Mall told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that the total area of Intertop Ukraine stores in the facility will be 1,300 square meters.
“Intertop Ukraine opens the first mono-brand store of the legendary U.S. brand The North Face and eight more stores in the River Mall center. Among them are such well-known international brands as Armani Exchange, Napapijri, Marc O’Polo, Ecco, Skechers, Geox, Timberland, as well as the Intertop store for the whole family,” the report says.
The North Face store will become the first mono-brand store in the Intertop Ukraine portfolio in Ukraine. It will present male and female clothes, as well as accessories.
“As of the end of January 2019, the design of the stores is at the completion stage. In the near future, the company is ready to start repair and construction work. The opening of the stores is scheduled simultaneously with the official opening of the River Mall center in the spring of this year,” the press service said.
Intertop Ukraine was founded by the international trading holding MTI, one of the largest distributors of computer and office equipment in Ukraine.
The Supreme Court has sent a case opened vis-à-vis the well-known medicine brand Corvalol Corvalolum to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. This decision was taken by the court on Tuesday, Head of the Legal Department of PJSC Farmak, lawyer Dmytro Taranchuk has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Having taken this decision, the Supreme Court granted the request of a third party – PJSC Farmak – on sending the case to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.
“This is a lawful decision and was taken in line with all procedural requirements; it will provide an impartial and objective consideration of the case,” the lawyer said.
As reported, the appeal chamber of Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry on June 20, 2017, declared the Corvalol Corvalolum trademark used by PJSC Farmak as a well-known one.
Kyiv-based Darnitsa pharmaceutical firm in turn seeks the legal right to produce its own medicine, Corvalol. The firm appealed to the business court of Kyiv seeking to declare the decision of the ministry unlawful. The court of lower instance dismissed Darnitsa’s lawsuit, while Kyiv’s business court of appeals upheld the firm’s counterclaim.
Farmak declares that the name “Corvalol,” which has been produced since 1960, belongs to the company, as the medication was created in 1960 by Lomonosov Kyiv Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant, and Farmak is the legal successor of the plant.
Since 1991, PJSC Farmak has been the only manufacturer of this medication in the post-Soviet space. The trademark Corvalol is protected in 15 countries of Europe and Central Asia: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
Darnitsa pharmaceutical firm is one of the ten largest pharmaceutical producers in Ukraine and belongs to the top ten hospital suppliers. The ultimate beneficiary is Hlib Zahoriy.
PJSC Farmak is among Ukraine’s top three pharmaceutical producers and is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU). PJSC Farmak’s beneficiary is Chairperson of PJSC Farmak’s supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
BRAND, CORVALOL, GRAND CHAMBER, MEDICINE, UKRAINIAN SUPREME COURT
The French sportswear brand Decathlon, part of the international Auchan Group, is to launch an online store in Ukraine in the spring of 2019 simultaneously with its first physical retail outlet, and announces plans to expand production in the country. “In six months, in the spring of 2019, we will open our first store in the north of Kyiv – in Retail Park Petrivka. Simultaneously, we will open an online store,” CEO of Decathlon Ukraine Florent Guieu said at a press conference on Tuesday. According to him, the company plans to cover the entire territory of Ukraine with its online store. The delivery of goods will be carried out from a warehouse located in Poland near the border with Ukraine. The online store will offer both delivery and customer pickup from the physical retail outlet.
Guieu also said that the company plans to expand production of own goods in Ukraine, which was launched in 2012.
“Ukraine is a fantastic country for production. We want to maximize the capacities for the production of footwear and non-technical goods here. We will try to produce more in Ukraine for the European market … Production is partnership, we do not own production facilities [in the countries of presence] with a few exceptions,” Guieu told Interfax-Ukraine in a comment.
In Ukraine, Decathlon produces goods in Zakarpattia, Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
