The court refused to register the trademark of the beverage manufacturer Milk Wave’s

The reason for the refusal to register the trademark was the similarity with the popular Milky Way chocolate bar brand, owned by the American Mars (it also owns Snickers, Twix, M&M’S and others), the document says.

Gift LLC can try to challenge the decision in the court of cassation, but there is little chance to defend the brand, Yuri Yakhin, advisor to the intellectual property practice of Melling, Voitishkin and Partners, told Kommersant.

The only way for a company to obtain the Milk Wave trademark is to file a lawsuit for early cancellation of the registration of Milky Way, citing the fact that it is not used in Russia, says patent lawyer Sergei Zuikov. It will be difficult to argue this, since according to data from the research company NTech, in January-June the Milky Way accounted for 3.3% of the total sales of natural chocolate bars in Russia, the newspaper writes.

In turn, the decisions of Rospatent and the court on intellectual property rights came into force, so Mars had the opportunity to demand the withdrawal of Milk Wave drinks from circulation and monetary compensation, Yakhin claims.

Gift LLC and Rospatent did not respond to Kommersant’s request. Mars declined to comment to the newspaper, citing the fact that the company is not involved in the dispute.

In addition to Milk Wave’s, Gift LLC produces Frupy juice, highly carbonated Zizzi, and various alcohols, including Uglevka, Nemiroff, and Rodnik vodkas. According to Rusprofile, in 2023 the company’s revenue amounted to 41 billion rubles and net profit – 218 million rubles. In 2022, Mars LLC’s revenue will amount to 177 billion rubles, and net profit will be 27 billion rubles.