Hennes & Mauritz came to Russia

The H&M brand has become the subject of the trial of Hennes & Mauritz - one of the largest chains of clothing stores in Europe - the trial against the Russian company H&M International. Both use the identical trademark -H & m.

The conflict flared up in the fall of last year, when the Swedes publicly announced their intention to open a trade business in Russia. Then, according to them, they found that their brand was already busy here.

In the Russian company, H&M International does not think so. General Director Boris Kostyrin said that the company registered in May 2005 is the copyright holder of the H&M trademark in Russia. So, the rights to the brand, officially registered in 1996, were acquired from its legal copyright holder "by mutual agreement."

Boris Kostyrin does not see any problem in the fact that the H&M trademark will be used at once by two companies. “With Hennes & Mauritz, we do not intersect in our rights,” says Mr. Kostyrin.

Unfortunately, firms intersect mainly - both sell clothes. The Swedish sellers, according to the representative of Hennes & Mauritz, Annakarin Bjorn, first turned to the Russian authorities with a request to understand the situation. The authorities did not interfere, and last Friday the Swedish H&M officially announced that she was suing the Russian “double”. “We started an official trial against a Russian company,” the representative of Hennes & Mauritz confirmed on Friday in an interview with the N24.de Internet resource.

According to the market participants, the lawsuit filed by Hennes & Mauritz against the Russian company suggests that the Swedes are in a hurry to enter the Russian market. This, apparently, is well understood and evaluated in a Russian company. If the H&M International manages to defend its rights to the H&M brand in the Russian court, it may demand from the Swedes “compensation”. Market participants believe that their amount can amount to up to $ 1 million.

Several options for the arrival of Hennes & Mauritz on the Russian market are considered. In one case, IKEA should become the Russian guide of the Swedes, in the other - the development concern of Centrum, which is building large shopping complexes in Russia. H&M can become a tenant of these shopping centers.

Hennes & Mauritz has existed since 1947, when the first Hennes women's clothing store was opened, and then the network has connected Mauritz Widfors men's clothing stores. Now the H&M network has about 1,100 stores in 20 countries. The main owner of the company is the Person family, which controls about 37% of the shares.

01/15/2006 / Kristina Orlova, the material was published in the newspaper No. 3 dated 01.16.2006.