More than UAH 390 million – this is the record amount of compensation that Sayenko Kharenko’s intellectual property team has managed to recover for trademark infringement. The case concerns the recovery of damages from Joint Stock Company Sberbank, which was subsequently renamed Joint Stock Company International Reserve Bank, for the unlawful use of the Oschadbank trademark. The specified case is a logical continuation of the court case on the prohibition of JSC Sberbank to use the Oschadbank trademark, which was initiated in 2016 and subsequently won.
Thanks to the diligent work of Sayenko Kharenko’s team and the support of Oschadbank, a strategy was developed and successfully implemented that took into account all the most critical aspects of the case. The team used its best efforts and innovative approaches to collect the necessary evidence and prepare the claim for the court to adequately prove the fact of lost profits and the amount of damages.
In this case, the court of first instance dismissed the claim, justifying its decision by stating that, in its opinion, the elements of the offence had not been proven, the forensic examination allegedly contained deficiencies, and prejudice should not have been applied because the defendant owned other trademarks.
Disagreeing with the court’s decision, Sayenko Kharenko’s attorneys filed an appeal. After a series of court hearings and a successful cassation appeal against the procedural ruling, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal issued a decision upholding the request in full, including the full recovery of damages for trademark infringement from JSC International Reserve Bank (renamed Sberbank) for over UAH 390 million (EUR 10 million). The decision of the Court of Appeal has entered into legal force.
In addition to emphasising the high level of professional competence of Sayenko Kharenko’s IP team, this victory is also of great importance for further developing the case law on compensation for intellectual property rights infringement in Ukraine.
We are grateful to Oschadbank for their trust, support and congratulate them on the fantastic result of our cooperation!
The project was successfully implemented by a team consisting of senior associate Volodymyr Hrunskyi and associate Gennadiy Kochin. Partner Yaroslav Ognevyuk led the team and developed the strategy.
