IP Disputes(en) Archives - Castrén & Snellman

Valio – Global Brand Portfolio Management and IP Enforcement

We enforce and defend your IP rights.

Our versatile IP litigation team has a solid track record of representing clients successfully in patent, trademark, design, copyright and trade secret litigation. Clients also trust our experts’ advice on disputes involving comparative or false advertising and claims of unfair competition.

As regards counterfeit and piracy matters, we represent several international and well-known brand owners in anti-counterfeiting operations, customs recordals and border enforcement.

We also have considerable experience in handling a wide range of litigation and arbitration involving franchise, license and other IP related commercial disputes.

Latest references

Pernod Ricard – Sale of local Nordic beverage brands to Hartwall

We acted as Finnish counsel to Pernod Ricard in the sale of a portfolio of local Nordic brands to Oy Hartwall Ab, an affiliate of the Danish group Royal Unibrew. Pernod Ricard is a worldwide leader in the spirits and wine industry. The local portfolio of brands includes spirits, liqueurs and Finnish wine brands, the best-known being the liqueur Minttu, along with their related production assets based in Turku, Finland. The closing of the transaction remains subject to customary conditions.

ONSE sport drink – Dispute concerning alleged trademark infringement

We successfully represented Onses Finland Oy before the Finnish Market Court in an exceptionally extensive dispute concerning alleged trademark infringement and unfair business practice. Our client, Onses Finland Oy, is a Finnish sports drink company and the owner of the sports drink brand ONSE. In the spring of 2023, the Polish beverage company OSHEE Polska Sp. z o.o. filed legal action against our client, alleging that the ONSE trademarks and product packaging infringed the OSHEE trademarks. The plaintiff’s secondary claims concerned alleged slavish imitation of the OSHEE sports drink packaging and exploitation of the reputation of the plaintiff. The plaintiff based its suit on registered trademarks as well as allegedly established and reputed figurative and three-dimensional trademarks. The Market Court rejected all of the plaintiff’s claims. The Market Court held that the marks invoked in the suit were neither established nor marks with a reputation in Finland. As regards the registered trademarks, the Market Court found that there was no likelihood of confusion between the OSHEE and ONSE trademarks. As to the secondary claims, the Market Court held that the sports drink packaging used by the plaintiff was a normal beverage bottle, the design of which was partly determined by functional factors. The Market Court also found that there were several blue sports drinks available on the market and that the plaintiff’s product was not the first blue sports drink on the market. The plaintiff failed to show that its product packaging was original or well-known to the average consumer at the time of the launch of our client’s ONSE sports drink product, and the Market Court thus rejected the claims on slavish imitation and exploitation of reputation. The Market Court ordered the plaintiff to pay all of our client’s legal costs with statutory interest. The judgment (MAO:280/2024) is not final.

Solina group – Acquisition of premium culinary brands OSCAR and Puljonki

We acted as Solina group’s Finnish legal counsel in its acquisition of Nestlé Professional Food A/S and Puljonki Oy, which own the premium culinary brands OSCAR and Puljonki, from the Nestlé group. The transaction is expected to be finalised prior to Q2 of 2024. Solina is a leading company within the food ingredient solutions industry and is active in 19 countries across Europe and North America.

Huhtamaki – EUR 300 million bond and tender offer of bond maturing in 2024

We advised Huhtamäki Oyj in its issuance of a EUR 300 million senior unsecured bond and on the tender offer of its EUR 150 million senior unsecured bond maturing in 2024. The new bond bears interest at a fixed interest rate of 5.125 per cent per annum. Huhtamaki used the net proceeds from the issue of the new bond for the partial repurchase of its bond maturing in 2024 and for refinancing and other general corporate purposes of the group.

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