Appeals Court Upholds Seizure and Destruction of Counterfeit Transformers Toys

Sojuzpatent lawyers successfully defended in court the interests of Hasbro Inc. (USA) against an importer of counterfeit goods.

Counterfeit children's toys were detected during a customs clearance at a customs post in Kaliningrad region and stopped by customs officials for additional inspection. The goods were marked with a designation confusingly similar to the TRANSFORMERS Decepticon trademark owned by Hasbro. Sojuzpatent lawyers filed a petition in the interests of Hasbro Inc. to bring the infringer to administrative liability for importing counterfeit goods. The customs arrested the goods, initiated an administrative case and filed a lawsuit in the Kaliningrad Region Arbitration Court.

Having considered the case, the court satisfied the claims, brought the importer of the counterfeit goods to administrative liability under part 1 of Article 14.10 of the Russian Administrative Offenses Code with the confiscation and destruction of the infringing goods.

The importer tried to challenge the decision and filed an appeal to the Thirteenth Appeals Court. Appeal instance considered the decision of the first instance as justified and kept it in force in full.

The rights holder’s position was presented in the court by Sojuzpatent lawyers.