MOSCOW, June 20 - RAPSI, Sergei Feklyunin. Dispute between Sony Ericsson’s Russian subsidiary Mobile Communications AB with the Russian Telephone Company has been accepted under the jurisdiction of Russian courts and has been referred to the Moscow Commercial Court.

The Russian Telephone Company contracted for the sale of Sony Ericsson phones sued Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Rus in the Moscow Commercial Court in May 2011. The plaintiff sought the replacement of defective telephone sets.

The court dropped the lawsuit due to the arbitration clause in the contract between the parties.

The companies agreed to resolve their disputes in London under the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile Sony Ericsson reserved the right to turn to a “court of competent jurisdiction”.

However, the Supreme Commercial Court’s presidium regarded this as a misbalance of the parties’ interests and infringement on the rights of the Russian Telephone Company.

“Proceeding from the general principles of civil rights protection, the contractual arbitration clause may not entitle only one party (vendor) to go to a competent court, while depriving the other party (purchaser) of this same right,” says the ruling.