We successfully protected the right of Elizaveta Glinka’s heir to use her pseudonym Doctor Liza
The team of Pepeliaev Group’s Intellectual Property and Trademarks Practice successfully protected the interests of Elizaveta Glinka’s heir in a dispute with the “Spravedlivaya Pomoshch Doktora Lizy” Foundation (referred to below using the English translation “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation) over the right to use her pseudonym “Doctor Liza”.
In 2023, the “Doctor Liza” trademark was registered in the name of the “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation with respect to services connected with charitable activities. However, the experts conducting the review carried out during the application failed to take account of the fact that the “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation had not submitted the consent required by law to the use of a well-known individual’s name. Such consent is given either by the well-known individual himself or herself, or by such individual’s heirs. The “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation had not requested the consent of the heirs. In this connection, the heir and widower of Elizaveta Glinka filed an objection against legal protection being granted to the trademark.
At the same time, Elizaveta Glinka's widower is the chairman of the board of the “Doctor Liza” Foundation that was founded by late Mrs Glinka herself. That the law provided for the need for the interest in the independent use of the designation “Doctor Liza” to be verified and, accordingly, for an objection to be filed was evidenced, among other things, by the fact that the “Doctor Liza” Foundation, which bears its late founder's name, had submitted an application to register its own “Doctor Liza” trademark in the “Doctor Liza” Foundation's name. Disregarding these circumstances, the Russian patent authority Rospatent in its decision refused to uphold the objection.
Having disagreed with the decision of Rospatent, Mrs Glinka's heir applied to the IP Court. The lawyers of our firm's IP practice under the supervision of Valentina Orlova developed a legal position, then prepared and filed with the IP Court a statement of claim from Mrs Glinka's heir seeking to have the decision of Rospatent invalidated.
The “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation accused Elizaveta Glinka's heir of an abuse of a right, pointing out that, had the “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation applied to Mrs Glinka's heir for a letter of consent, a disproportionately large amount of compensation would have been requested for providing it. The “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation also stated that Mrs Glinka's heir had not objected to the Foundation being renamed from “Spravedlivaya Pomoshch” (the “Fair Aid” Foundation ) to “Spravedlivaya Pomoshch Doktora Lizy” (the “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation).
However, the above arguments were refuted by the fact that the “Doctor Liza Fair Aid” Foundation had not sought the heir’s consent at all, while the statements about disproportionately large compensation being required were entirely speculative and unsupported. In addition, unlike a trademark, the fact of a non-profit organisation being renamed does not entail the exclusive right to use the “Doctor Liza” designation; in particular, it confers no right to prohibit Mrs Glinka's heir himself from using the designation in question.
In its decision dated 15 November 2024, the IP Court upheld the claim of Mrs Glinka's heir, set aside Rospatent's decision, invalidated the grant of legal protection to the trademark and imposed an obligation on Rospatent to make an entry to this effect in the Russian State Register of Trademarks and Service Marks.
Thus, Pepeliaev Group's lawyers helped Mrs Glinka's heir to win the court case and to protect his right to use the pseudonym “Doctor Liza”.