On February 17, 2021, Vladimir regional court reversed the decision of Leninsky regional court and dismissed the claim of patent holders against the client of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm — «STES-Vladimir» company.
A license agreement had been registered between the patent holders and the defendant for the production and launch (including selling) of the products using the patent. The factory (defendant) has established a distribution system of the products by concluding two distribution agreements. According to them the distributor receives the products (ownership right is transferred to him) and sells them further, including participation in tenders. In this regard the patent holders have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against our client claiming that the rights had been infringed by granting a sublicense to third parties, referring to the fact that a distribution agreement is a sublicense and the license agreement did not contain any rights to a sublicense. The plaintiff has requested that distributors were prohibited to sell the products purchased from the factory since in the opinion of the patent holders the sublicense had been given illegally. In addition, the plaintiff has requested the recovery of monetary compensation both from the defendant and distributors. The court ruled in favor of the patent holders. After that our client filed an appeal and asked for the assistance of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm to step in and represent the factory.
In practice appeals in the courts of general jurisdiction are rarely satisfied, however, the associates of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm have consistently unraveled the plaintiff's arguments and the Court ruled in favor of our client by agreeing that Article 1359 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation should have been applied (Actions that may not be considered an infringement of the exclusive right to an invention, utility model or industrial design) in the dispute.