MOSCOW, May 19 (RAPSI) – The Kaliningrad Regional Commercial Court has ruled in favor of US Saucony Inc. in a lawsuit over the infringement on its trademark rights, prohibiting Alexey Zaytsev to use domain name saucony.ru and awarding to the US company a compensation in amount of 300 thousand rubles ($4,500), the court record reads.

According to the claimant’s petition, it owns “Saucony” trademark, properly registered and put on the Russia’s State Trademark Register. Alexey Zaytsev administers domain name saucony.ru, which was registered on 21 December 2003.

Since the date of registration, the domain has not been available. The claimant has insisted that the use of “saucony” in the domain name infringed upon its exclusive rights as the trademark owner.

The court ruled that Zaytsev had no sound legal right and legitimate interest with regard to this domain name, since he was not owner of “saucony” trademark and the said domain did not reflect his name or the name of his company.

Besides, the defendant failed to present evidence of any other legitimate interest in the use of the disputed trademark. Therefore, according to the judgement, Zaytsev’s actions were defined as an act of unfair competition.