MOSCOW, March 15 - RAPSI. The court has supported Prado Banks request to partially cancel the legal protection of the National Bank of Greece's "i-bank" brand, the court told RAPSI on Friday.

The Moscow Commercial Court prematurely canceled the brand's legal protection for a range of goods, as the National Bank of Greece was not using the brand for financial services, credit or property operations in Russia.

The defendant's representatives did not attend the hearing, although they had been duly notified of its date and time.

The National Bank of Greece registered the trademark with the Russian intellectual property watchdog, Rospatent, in 2008, which ensures legal protection for 10 years.

The Moscow-based Prado Bank asked the court to prematurely cancel the protection because the brand is not used and it plans to introduce a product with a confusingly similar name.

The bank's lawyers said they have already sent a request to the watchdog to register their new banking brand: "ibank."

Prado Bank is a universal lender headquartered in Moscow. According to the banki.ru website, Prado Bank ranked 438th in Russia in terms of net assets (3.38 billion rubles) as of June 27.

The National Bank of Greece S.A. is the largest bank in Greece. The government owns a 23% share. Established in 1841, the bank serves 30% of the private accounts in Greece.