| The Ramstore and Seventh Continent store chains are stopping the purchase and sale of Smirnov brand vodkas and liqueurs produced by OST-Alco. The management of the chains was forced to make this decision after an inspection of two Seventh Continent stores and one Ramstore was carried out on August 1 by employees of the Moscow Department of Economic Crimes. As a result, Smirnov products in 0.61 liter bottles were withdrawn from sale and prohibited from sale. The stores themselves say that they did not know about the court ban on OST-Alco from producing Smirnov vodka.
The inspection was carried out, according to a statement by representatives of the Alfa-Eco group, which controls the production of Smirnov vodka, in pursuance of last year’s decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, which prohibited OST-Alco LLC from using the Smirnov trademark.
"OST-Alko" produced alcoholic products with the "Smirnov" trademark under an agreement with the "Trading house of the descendants of the supplier of the court of His Imperial Majesty P.A. Smirnov" (the founder is Boris Smirnov). In December 2000, when the composition of the shareholders of the trading house changed and the Alfa-Eco group took over the management, the new owners abandoned the services of OST-Alko and established their own production of “smirnovka” in a 0.5 liter container at the Moscow “Crystal” . Litigation surrounding the Smirnov trademark continues, and so far Alfa-Eco is winning. As Alpha suspected, OST-Alko did not stop the production and sale of Smirnov vodkas. They were the ones who caused the conflict.
The OST-Alko company refuses to comment on the situation. And Deputy General Director for External Relations of the Seventh Continent, Valentin Zapevalov, told the Vremya Novostey newspaper yesterday that “there really was a check.” “We didn't know about the court decision,” he says. “As soon as we were informed about it, we removed all products from sale.”
A source close to the networks involved in the scandal said that the document on the basis of which the audit was carried out was written by hand and did not contain references to any court decisions. Now, according to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, both networks have stopped selling the controversial “smirnovka” and are negotiating with OST-Alko about the return of products.
"Alfa-Eco" submitted an application with a request to check the execution of court decisions to the head of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region (OST-Alko is registered in the Noginsk region) on July 12. Alfa suspects that OST-Alko is not just selling off the remaining products, but continues to produce Smirnov vodka and liqueurs.
Meanwhile, the main competitor of Ramstore and Seventh Continent, the Perekrestok supermarket chain, is part of Alfa Group and, according to the Alfa-Eco press service, “does not sell OST-Alco products " It is possible that the next round of scandal surrounding the trademark should at the same time help Perekrestok in the competition. Anfisa VORONINA
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