LiAZ initiated a process for a trademark

The company is trying to deprive the publisher of the rights to the brand from October 2023. Modimio uses its logo on the smaller bus models “LiAZ-59Z2”, “LiAZ-677”, “LiAZ-677E” and “ LiAZ-b77V”, which are magazine supplements on automotive topics.

Representatives of the plant considered the non-payment of royalties for the use of the LiAZ trademark to be a loss of profits, and the very existence of a similar logo caused damage in the form of a possible departure of existing licensees. The court sided with Modimio by not seeing an imitation of the LiAZ logo in the mark.

The plant filed an appeal before the Presidium of the Court of Intellectual Rights, which supported LiAZ’s arguments. According to the court, the publisher could not justify the objective of acquiring a brand that was schematically similar to the bus brand. Following the November 21, 2024 conference, the appeal sent the case for a new trial to the trial court.

According to SPARK-Interfax, MODIMIO LLC was registered in Kostroma in mid-2018. Since then, the company has participated in at least 11 arbitration cases as a defendant. The publisher has also sued the NAZ, GAZ and PAZ automobile plants over trademarks. Hearings on their claims will take place in December this year.

In 2023, the company achieved revenue of 167 million rubles, 30.2 million rubles more than in 2024, ABN writes.