MOSCOW, January 25 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court will not hear until March 13 Prado Bank's case against the National Bank of Greece, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Friday.
Prado Bank has contested the Greek bank's rights to the international "i-bank" trademark, which is used for financial, monetary, credit and property operations.
The hearing was initially postponed because the judge was ill. The case was then transferred to a different judge and the hearing was moved to a later date.
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 has asked the court to cancel this protection ahead of time because the brand is not used and Prado Bank plans to introduce a product with a confusingly similar name.
The banks lawyers said they have already sent a request to the watchdog to register their new banking brand, "ibank." The watchdog has been named as a third party in the lawsuit filed on April 5.
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.