MOSCOW, August 5 (RAPSI) - Russia's Intellectual Property Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by American Express against Strauss Group seeking restrictions on the legal protection of the Black Card trademark, RAPSI learnt in the court on Tuesday.

The case has been dismissed after American Express withdrew the suit.

Netherlands registered Strauss Coffee B.V. will own this brand until 2022. The plaintiff, American Express Marketing & Development Corp., an American Express subsidiary, asked the court to limit the defendant’s trademark ownership rights in categories such as the goods and services of research equipment, digital data carriers, financial activity, monetary-crediting operations and telecommunications, because it reportedly did not use the trademark for these purposes. The court included the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia (Rospatent) as a third party in the case.

Strauss Group data shows the company to be the world’s fifth largest coffee producer in terms of green coffee bean purchases. It is also the third largest coffee company in Russia and the CIS, and the second largest company on Russian and Ukrainian natural coffee markets. The Israeli company also manufactures confectioneries, dairy products, salads and snacks at over 20 plants. In 2010, the company posted $1.9 billion in sales. Strauss entered the Russian market in 1992 originally under the name Elite.

American Express, a global leader in the credit card market, is based in New York City and employs over 65,000 people. In the first quarter of 2013, it posted $1.27 billion in net profits, or 2% more on January-March 2012. One of its products is the American Express Centurion Card, also known as the Black Card.