CMS Kyiv represents mBank in a dispute over trademark entitlement

CMS Kyiv has successfully represented mBank, in a trademark dispute against Bank Mykhailivsky, one of the biggest Ukrainian banks in the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine.

Bank Mykhailivsky sought invalidation of mBank’s registered trademarks due to its alleged failure to use them in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian commercial courts of all three instances upheld the defence of mBank that setting up a local branch was not required to prove the “use of trademarks” under Ukrainian law. The courts upheld that rendering bank services in Ukraine by use of bank cards issued in Poland satisfies the “use of trademarks” test under Ukrainian law.

The CMS Kyiv team was led by partners from Kyiv and Warsaw, Olexander Martinenko Malgorzata Chrusciak, with invaluable assistance from Sergiy Gryshko and Volodymyr Kolvakh.

Olexander Martinenko, senior partner, commented: “We are delighted with the outcome of this non-trivial case. It not only reminds of our potent Ukrainian litigation capability, but also witnesses that Ukrainian courts have experts to deal with technically and legally complicated cases."