Izvestia on trial

The presidential administration has not yet been able to sue the printing complex

The legal battles for the Izvestia complex on Pushkinskaya Square do not subside. Yesterday, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District rejected the cassation appeal of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Izvestia Publishing House, which is part of the presidential administration, about the invalidity of the 1999 deal to create Izvestia Publishing House OJSC. The court confirmed the legality of registration of the JSC's shares with the FCSM.

The conflict around the publishing complex on Pushkinskaya Square was largely a consequence of the division in 1992 of the single newspaper production structure Izvestia. Two independent enterprises appeared: OJSC “Editorial office of the newspaper “Izvestia” and the printing and publishing complex, which became the federal state unitary enterprise (FSUE) “Publishing House “Izvestia” of the Presidential Administration. In 1999, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise together with the pension fund Lukoil-Garant (which acted as one of the defendants at yesterday's trial) created the joint-stock company Izvestia Publishing House.

After some time, Mr. Kozhin’s department decided that the state had in vain released from its hands both real estate and intellectual property - the complex on Pushkinskaya and the Izvestia brand. Showdowns began, which escalated into lawsuits. Last year, the Moscow District Arbitration Court, following a claim by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Izvestia Publishing House, invalidated the agreements on the creation of the Izvestia Publishing House OJSC. The court ruled that the Federal State Unitary Enterprise should return all the property previously contributed as a contribution to the authorized capital of the Izvestia Publishing House (including the most tidbit of this property - the printing complex). Moreover, the head of the presidential affairs department, Vladimir Kozhin, publicly stated that the department he heads has certain views on the brand of the Izvestia newspaper, despite the fact that back in April 2000, Rospatent reserved the rights to the Izvestia trademark » JSC "Editorial office of the newspaper "Izvestia".

At the beginning of this year, the conflicting parties seemed to switch places, and Lukoil-Garant celebrated a judicial victory. In January and March, the first and appellate instances of the capital's arbitration court rejected the complaint of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Izvestia Publishing House about the invalidity of the 1999 deal to create Izvestia Publishing House JSC. It is clear that the management was unhappy with this decision. A lawsuit followed in the district court, which, judging by yesterday's decision, was unlikely to satisfy Mr. Kozhin.

Both the presidential affairs department and Lukoil-Garant did not comment on the court’s decision to the Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent. However, the litigation is likely to continue. The editors of Izvestia stated that the litigation between two business entities does not concern them.

Maxim BALUTENKO