MOSCOW, October 26 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has ruled that a lawsuit filed by Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (G&D) to recover 429,000 euros from the Bank of Russia and Federal State Unitary Enterprise Goznak should be heard behind closed doors, the court spokesperson told RAPSI.

The bank and the unitary enterprise responsible for the production of coins and bank notes in Russia were allegedly using a patented German technology to print Russian banknotes in violation of the law.

G&D is a German company specializing in printing banknotes. Its patented banknote protection technology uses optical components which change color depending on the angle of view. G&D claims that this technology has been used to protect rubles from counterfeiting without its consent.

On Thursday, the court upheld the Bank of Russia's motion to hear the case behind closed doors, since some of the material submitted by the bank is confidential. The court then postponed the preliminary hearing to November 7.

The Justice Ministry's lawyer also said the case needed to be heard behind closed doors because all information on the production of banknotes is confidential. G&D sided with the request.

Initially, the German company sued the Russian Finance Ministry and the Moscow Mint Goznak. But the ministerial counsel said the ministry cannot act as a defendant as it is not entitled to issue banknotes. Goznak agreed with this and requested to involve the Bank of Russia, which is responsible for issuing rubles.

Goznak's representatives object to the lawsuit and claim Giesecke & Devrient GmbH missed the statute of limitations as the money has been produced with the technology in dispute for a long time.

Giesecke & Devrient GmbH was established in 1852. It supplies many different banknotes, including euros, produces ID cards and provides protection for bank and SIM cards. G&D also printed tickets for the Moscow Olympic Games in 1979.