The dispute was initiated by the American company Space Exploration Technologies Corp, which requested that the court prematurely terminate the validity of Ukraine’s certificate № 135574 for the registered trademark “STARLINK” for services in classes 37, 38, and part of class 42 of the International Classification of Goods and Services. The plaintiff claimed that the trademark was not being used by its owner, while the plaintiff sought to carry out the entrepreneurial activity in Ukraine using the designation STARLINK.
Receiving the lawsuit was unexpected for the Ukrainian company, which had been using the trademark for more than ten years to provide a wide range of communication services and information technology services to businesses and had never interfered with the plaintiff’s activities. Therefore, the Ukrainian company took an active defence position in the dispute to protect its legal rights.
The IP lawyers of Sayenko Kharenko developed a strategy to protect the Client’s interests, analysed documentation confirming the systematic use of its trademark, and submitted all procedural documents relevant to the dispute to the court. During the case, it was successfully proven that there was no violation of the plaintiff’s rights or legitimate interests, a mandatory prerequisite for initiating a lawsuit.
As a result of the case, the first instance court agreed with the position of LLC “Starlink” and recognised the fact of using the disputed trademark. The court also established that the plaintiff had not proved the existence of a violated right or legitimate interest.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, the Director of LLC “Starlink” Olha Valevych noted: “David has honestly defeated Goliath! We are very pleased with the fair decision of the court! Thanks to Sayenko Kharenko’s IP practice for their impeccable work in achieving justice!”.
Senior Associate Volodymyr Hrunskyi commented, “This first stage of victory was achieved thanks to the well-coordinated work of Sayenko Kharenko and our Client’s team, attention to the smallest details, and our ability to see all the combinations of the parties several steps ahead.”.
The first instance court’s decision is likely to be appealed, so we will continue to inform everyone about the case’s progress.
Senior Associate Volodymyr Hrunskyi led the project team with strategic support from Partner Yaroslav Ognevyuk. The team also included Associate Khrystyna Ivanytska and Junior Associate Nataliia Nagorna.