MOSCOW, January 30 - RAPSI, Alyona Yegorova. A commercial court will start reconsidering on January 31 the Russian Alcohol (Russky Alkogol) distributor's lawsuit disputing the patent watchdog's refusal to register the Russian Alcohol trademark, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Monday.

The Russian Alcohol Group is a major strong alcohol beverage producer in Russia. CEDC, one of the largest vodka producers and distributors in Poland, holds a 100-percent stake in the company. CEDC owns the Zubrowka, Bols and Soplica brands.

CEDC distributes more than 700 brands, including Remy Martin, Jaegermeister, Metaxa, Corona, Foster's, Jim Beam and Guinness. It also operates in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Some 90 percent of its shares are in free float.

On March 14, the Moscow Commercial Court satisfied a lawsuit filed by the Russian Alcohol Group and invalidated the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks' (Rospatent) refusal to register the Russian Alcohol trademark.

The appeals instance left the decision in force.

The service then filed a cassation appeal.

The service refused to register the brand since it is confusingly similar to the "Russkaya" ("Russian") and "Russkaya Vodka" ("Russian Vodka") trademarks.