Coca-Cola re-registers trademarks in Russia despite exiting market - media
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - U.S. soft drink maker The Coca-Cola Co. , which withdrew the Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta brands from the Russian market in 2022, filed three applications with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) in April to re-register the same trademarks, Vedomosti said, citing Rospatent's database.
The trademarks belong to the 32nd and 33rd classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services for soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and carbonated water, among others.
The Russian division of The Coca-Cola Company did not respond to Vedomosti's request.
The Coca-Cola Company announced in March 2022 that it was suspending operations in Russia amid the situation in Ukraine. The company then announced the halt to production and sales of carbonated beverages under the international brands Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta in Russia, and focused on the release of local brands.
The Russian division of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia LLC, changed its name to Multon Partners LLC at the end of July 2022, after which it launched production of a Coca-Cola analogue, Dobry Cola. The drink tastes different from the original Coca-Cola, because it is made using a different formula, Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics, told Vedomosti. Despite this, the new soft drink has managed to occupy Coca-Cola's niche, he clarifies.
The Dobry Cola brand increased its market share from 2.8% in 2022 to 25% in 2023 to become the leader in the segment, Ntech said. Absolute values were not provided. Coca-Cola's share in the Russian market decreased from 20% to 4.8%, Fanta from 3.1% to 0.2%, and Sprite from 1.7% to 0%, respectively.
A Multon Partners' financial report indicates that the company boosted revenue 4% year-on-year to 77 billion rubles in 2023, and net profit rose to 10 billion rubles from 4 billion rubles the previous year. Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia LLC earned 93.9 billion rubles in 2021 and 72.7 billion rubles in 2020. The company posted net profit of 6.7 billion rubles in 2021 versus 6.6 billion rubles the previous year.
