MOSCOW, June 29 - RAPSI. The Moscow District Federal Commercial Court has upheld the dismissal of Nestle Russia's lawsuit against Unilever Rus over an advertisement.

In December, the Moscow Commercial Court rejected Nestle's lawsuit and the appeallate court upheld the ruling.

Nestle believes Unilever's "No Magic!" advertising slogan discredits products manufactured by Nestle under the "Maggi" brand, since "Maggi" and "magiya" ("magic" in Russian) sound similar.

Nestle claims that Unilever's ad qualifies as unfair competition, which affects Nestle's business reputation. The company asked the court to prohibit Unilever from running the advertisement.

Unilever Rus, whose Knorr products are promoted in the disputed commercial, sees no bad faith product comparison, nor any element of unfair competition. The defendant produced several survey reports confirming that the commercial evokes no associations with Maggi among consumers and that the advert has had no impact on Nestle's sales of similar products.

Unilever is one of the world's leading consumer goods manufacturers. The company has been operating in Russia since 1992. It sells goods in more than 160 countries. The company has invested 600 million euro in the Russian economy.

Nestle SA was established in 1866 by Swiss pharmacist Henri Nestle. Nestle owns 456 factories in 84 countries, including 14 in Russia, and produces a wide range of food products.