MOSCOW, February 7 (RAPSI) – Russian R-Line company has appealed a decision of the Kaluga Region Commercial Court dismissing a lawsuit the company filed seeking 500 million rubles (about $8.6 million) from a subsidiary of German automobile corporation Volkswagen AG, the court documents read on Wednesday.

The Kaluga Commercial Court ruled in the case last December. The plaintiff owns R-Line/P–Line brands and believes that the defendant unlawfully uses a confusingly similar trademark.

In September of 2017, Russia’s Intellectual property watchdog, Rospatent, dismissed a motion filed by Volkswagen to register RLine trademark because of confusing similarities to existing brands.

The automotive giant appealed this decision with Rospatent’s board noting that in accordance with the ruling of Russia’s Intellectual Property Court (IPC) legal protection of R-Line/P – Line brands was terminated. Rospatent, in turn, noted that the court’s ruling was not yet in force at the time the appeal was submitted. Also, one of the trademarks proposed by Volkswagen was believed to be nearly identical to the existing one. The contested trademarks were registered as R-Line’s property by Rospatent in 2003 in respect of a number of goods and services, in particular transport vehicles. Volkswagen AG also produces vehicles equipped with a sports package decoration called “R-Line”.

Volkswagen AG is the largest car manufacturer in Europe behind such trademarks as Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti.