Novosibholod can achieve the removal of security from the trademark « Pimbir on cream »
A large manufacturer of ice cream “Novosibholod” through the Patent dispute chamber may try to remove the security from the trademarks “Pimbir in cream” and “Sflobir on cream with chocolate crumb”. Now the brands belong to another noticeable player – the Slavitsa group. With an increase in production, competition in the ice cream market is aggravated and business pays more and more attention to the struggle for the consumer.
The Chamber of Patent disputes on March 25 will consider the appeals of OJSC Novosibirsk Coladokonat (Novosibholod) regarding the trademarks “Pimbir on Cream” and “Pimbir on cream with chocolate crumb”, follows from the schedule of colleges. The essence of the proceedings is not disclosed. Anastasia Malyukina, lawyer AB « Olga Renova and partners » draws attention to the fact that in such disputes we are usually talking about issues regarding the rights to trademarks and protecting competition. In Novosibholod, they did not answer the questions “Kommersant”.
The copyright holder of the signs “Slobir on Cream” and “Pimbir on cream with chocolate chips” is LLC “Factory of Ice Cream“ Slavitsa ”, followed by SPARK. The company registered them in 2012-2013, turning on the image of the White Bear. Now products under the brand are available in retail. Novosibholod may be interested in using similar brands. On February 4, Slavitsa filed a lawsuit against the company to the Moscow Arbitration Court, demanding to stop violation of the trademark and recover 50 million rubles. Compensation for violation of rights, follows from the court of the court. Details of the claim in the materials are not given. In the « Slavitsa » « Kommersant » did not answer.
« Slavitsa » has existed since 1994. According to the Milknews.ru rating, according to the results of 2023, the group took fifth place among the largest producers of ice cream in the country. It accounted for 5.6% of the total production – 29.5 thousand tons. In addition to “sealing on cream” in the briefcase of the company “Sovetsky”, “fruit”, “yumka”, “pole”, “traffic light”, and so on. According to SPARK, in 2023, the revenue of LLC Factory of the Ice Cream Slavitsa increased by 24.4% of the year, to 3.1 billion rubles, and net profit – by 46.7%, to 370.6 million rubles. The main shares in business belong to Nadezhda Abdurakhmanova (47%) and Vadim Sulakov (24.2%)
Novosibholod Group is the largest ice cream manufacturer in Siberia. In the federal rating, in the results of 2023, the company took tenth place, releasing 12.7 thousand tons. In the portfolio of the brands “Case in Cream”, “Prostokvashino”, “eckleto”, love to you and so on. The company sells meat, fish and frozen products. According to the SPARK, the revenue of OJSC Novosibholod in 2023 increased by 5.4%, to 2.97 billion rubles. Net profit increased by 3.2%, to 46.35 million rubles. In 2016, the business was owned by Dmitry Verkhovodov (85%) and Alexei Misyur (15%).
In the fall of 2023, Novosibholod appealed to the OFAS by Mari El with a demand to recognize the acquisition of exclusive rights to the trademarks “Slombir on the cream” and “Slombir on cream with chocolate crumbs” with unfair competition. The antimonopoly body did not find violations, and its decision was appealed in a court of intellectual rights. But there Novosibholod also was refused. In court, the company set up that since 2009 he was producing a “ice cream with the aroma of vanilla” and “vanilla”. Their packaging is made in similar colors and also contains the image of a white bear.
The partner of the law firm Zuykov and partners Sergey Zuykov believes that it is the image of a bear that could be the subject of the trial in the ward on patent disputes. Words from the trademarks of the « Slavitsa » are excluded from the protection, he remarks. But the expert doubts that the chamber will eventually take the side of the applicant. FORWARD LEGAL Lawyer Margarita Leghenkin draws attention to the fact that Novosibholod in one of the trials previously indicated that the designation “filling in cream” has lost its distinguishing feature, used by many market participants before registration.
The Soyuzmolok says that the ice cream market remains highly competitive and the brand recognition on it is extremely important. The struggle for the consumer is aggravated with seasonal growth in demand in the summer. According to preliminary calculations of Milknews.ru on the basis of Rosstat, in 2024, 600.3 thousand tons of ice cream were produced in Russia. The indicator grew by 14.5% year by year, becoming a record for the country. The NTECH research company celebrates the growth of natural sales by 16.1% year by year in 2024, and cash – 16.1%. The most popular ice cream brands are called the “cow from Korenovka” (13.9%of natural sales), “Filevskoye” (4.2%) and “clean line” (4%).
