Alcohol, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The Finnish court found that the Estonian company was not guilty of trademark infringement and ordered the plaintiff to compensate it for legal costs in the amount of 127,000 euros inclusive of a fine for delay, the Finnish business daily Taloussanomat said.

Alko had filed a lawsuit for 100,000 euros in damages with a demand that all the material violating its right to its trademark be destroyed at Super Alko's expense. Alko says the target group of customers for Super Alko is Finns, which can be concluded from the fact that the company runs a Finnish language website and is selling products that are popular in Finland, such as long drink.

According to Alko, the prefix "Super" does not sufficiently distinguish Super Alko from Alko, which may cause confusion among consumers.

Super Alko dismissed the lawsuit as groundless and pointed out that it registered its trademark in Estonia more than a decade ago and has never used it in Finland.

Established in 1932, Alko is the only seller of alcoholic beverages containing more than 4.7 percent of alcohol in Finland. The company runs 350 stores and 107 order points all over Finland.