Stoli Trademark Suit to Continue After Second Circuit Revival

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that a Russian
state-owned company can sue U.S. distributors of Stolichnaya vodka in
a dispute over which entity inherited the brand after the Soviet Union
collapsed—the Russian Federation or private companies successive to
the company that sold the product before the dissolution. Fed. Treasury
Enter. Sojuzplodoimport v. Spirits Intl. BV, No. 14-4721 (2nd Cir., order
entered January 5, 2016).

A lower court previously held that the Russian Federation’s Federal Treasury
Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport (FTE) did not have standing to sue,
but the appeals court disagreed. “The declaration of a United States court
that the executive branch of the Russian government violated its own
law by transferring its own rights to its own quasi-governmental entity
(FTE) would be an affront to the government of a foreign sovereign,” the
appeals court held. “Even an inquiry into whether Russian law permitted
the Assignment is a breach of comity.” Additional information about the
lengthy dispute appears in Issue 536 of this Update.

Issue 589