MOSCOW, August 27 - RAPSI. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has left the ruling in force which deems the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks' (Rospatent) refusal to register the Zatecky Gus brand as lawful, the court spokesperson told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Monday.

In April, the Moscow Commercial Court refused to uphold Baltika's lawsuit to reverse the patent service's ruling.

Baltika, which has been producing Zatecky Gus since 2009, sought to register the trademark for beer produced from hop planted in the Czech town of Zatec.

The patent service refused to register the trademark, arguing that the reference to the Czech town may mislead people as to the beer's country of origin.

The brewery challenged the decision in the Patent Disputes Chamber, pointing out that few consumers have sufficient knowledge of geography or brewery to establish a clear association with the Czech town, given the average level of education.
Nevertheless, the chamber held against the company.

Baltika then contested the refusal with the Moscow Commercial Court, filing an appeal on January 12. The company asked the patent agency to register two trademarks -

"Zatecky Gus" and the label of the Baltika-produced beer of the same name.

Baltika runs 11 breweries in Russia and one in Azerbaijan. It owns over 40 brands and exports products to 70 countries. The brewery accounts for about 70 percent of Russia's beer exports.