The IP team of Capital Legal Services prepared and filed a lawsuit on behalf of TWIN Media against VGTRK due to breach of rights to the brand of The Night of the AD Eaters in Andrey Malakhov’s program Live on the Air (Pryamoi Efir).

On September 28, 2017, the Russia-1 TV channel aired announcements of Andrey Malakhov’s TV talk show “Live on the Air. Evening of the AD Eaters.” In order to attract a maximum audience, the TV channel repeated the announcements several times in the course of two days. This did not go unnoticed by the Russian producers of the Night of the AD Eaters. TWIN Media, the holder of the Night of the AD Eaters brand, immediately informed the TV company about the breach of its rights and demanded immediate termination of the violation. Unfortunately, the TV company did not react to the letters and calls, and the program aired at 6 pm on September 29, 2017. The contents of the program leave no doubt that the rights and reputation of Night of the AD Eaters suffered damage. When addressing ‘ad eaters,’ videos were demonstrated that had nothing to do with the high-quality content of Jean Marie Boursicot’s program. Viewers of Andrey Malakhov’s program were shown ads from the 90s, including advertisements of Ponzi schemes which viewers most frequently associate with deception. All this could have been interesting and fun, if it wasn’t based on use of the Night of the AD Eaters brand.

Capital Legal Services is representing TWIN Media, with Senior Associate Elena Berger in charge of the case. Elena comments – “Our firm has been protecting TWIN Media’s rights to the Night of the AD Eaters brand for a long time, and this is not the first time someone was tempted to use such a lush word combination. We constantly monitor the use of this trademark and are almost always able to rectify a violation at the initial stage. Usually, violators cease the violation once they receive notice. In the case with Andrey Malakhov’s program, this did not happen, and we will have to demand protection of our client’s rights in court.”