Antitrust Advisory wins unfair competition case for Klin Meat Processing Plant

16.10.2018

Antitrust Advisory represented Klin Meat Processing Plant (part of the PRODO group) in an unfair competition case against Vladimirsky Standart meat processing plant, a Russian regional producer of sausages and other meat products.

Vladimirsky Standart was engaging in unfair competition by producing and selling cooked sausage in copycat packaging imitating the design of the Klinsky brand of cooked sausage. Klinsky products are bestsellers in Russia and have been well known among Russian consumers for 70 years. In its decision the FAS of Russia found that Vladimirsky Standart’s actions constituted unfair competition.

The main difficulty in the case consist in proving that, notwithstanding the fact that the design of the packaging of both brands of sausages was very similar, the Klinsky brand had a high level of distinctiveness for consumers, and consumers who wished to buy the products could be misled by the copycat products made by Vladimirsky Standart.