MOSCOW, December 25 (RAPSI) – The Kaluga Region Commercial Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Russian R-Line company seeking 500 million rubles (about $8.6 million) from a subsidiary of German automobile corporation Volkswagen AG, the court documents read on Monday.

The plaintiff owns R-Line/P–Line brands and believes that the defendant unlawfully utilizes a confusingly similar trademark.

In September, Russia’s Intellectual property watchdog, Rospatent, dismissed a motion filed by Volkswagen to register RLine trademark because of confusing similarities to existing brands.

The corporation appealed this decision with Rospatent’s board noting that in accordance with the ruling of Russia’s Intellectual Property Court (IPC) legal protection of R-Line/P – Line brands was terminated. Rospatent, in turn, noted that the court’s ruling has not come into force yet. Also, one of the trademarks proposed by Volkswagen is believed to be nearly identical to existing one.

The contested trademarks were registered as R-Line’s property by Rospatent in 2003 in respect of a number of goods and services, in particular transport vehicles. Volkswagen AG also produces vehicles equipped with a sports package decoration called “R-Line”.

Volkswagen AG is the largest car manufacturer in Europe behind such trademarks as Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti.