US court rejects Russia claim to stolichnaya trademark

A US appeals court has upheld a ruling dismissing the Russian government’s claim to the Stolichnaya trademark in the United States, according to court documents. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York on Monday upheld a September 2011 ruling by a lower court, writing that the Russian companies which filed the suit—Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport (FTE) and the “Moscow Distillery Crystall” —had insufficient standing to represent the Russian government in a lawsuit in the United States. The legal conflict dates back to 2004, when the complainants argued that Luxembourg-based SPI, the firm which markets Stolichnaya in the United States, had acquired the global trademark for Stolichnaya by improper means. SPI markets its Stolichnaya variant, produced in Latvia using some ingredients from Russia, internationally, while the Russian government retains ownership of the trademark within its territory.