ITALIAN LABORATORY DIAGNOSTIC LEADER ALIFAX WINS TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT CASE IN RUSSIA

Alifax is the Italian company producing innovative medical diagnostic equipment. Alifax has its subsidiaries in Spain, China, Brazil, Germany and in Russia as well. The distribution network of this company involves more than 100 countries around the world.

To ensure safe and reliable operation of its diagnostic equipment, Alifax provides to its customers special  smart cards. While most supplies of these cards follow up verified B2B chains, two years ago Alifax started facing issues relating to parallel import and counterfeit products. Patentica’s lawyers investigated this matter and filed lawsuits against several major infringers in the Russian market.

The defendants tried various tactics throughout the hearings, raising doubts about the very association between the equipment and smart cards to prove that these cards are simply out of the legal protection scope.

Eventually, Patentica’s legal team justified all the key aspects of the case, including the homogeneity of the smart cards and the equipment they are intended for from the perspective of an average consumer. All imposed legal collisions were successfully resolved.

As a result, Patentica proved both the fact of the trademark rights infringement and the guilt of the defendants. The court awarded Alifax with a fair compensation of ca. 765 000 RUB.