The “Belsat” trademark case has been the subject of litigation between our channels and the “BELSATplyus” company owner Andrei Belyakou for several years. According to Mr Belyakou, the media outlet broadcasting from Poland violates his business interests. This year, he launched another complaint.
Police reacted only now — today they searched both offices of “Belsat TV” confiscating nine computers. The formal explanation of the searches was “unlawful use of the trademark”. An administrative investigation was launched into the use of the trademark on the territory of Belarus. “Belsat TV” director has commented on the situation:
What are the searches of “Belsat” offices about?
They are the result of good work of our journalists during the recent protests — a kind of award from the Belarusian authorities.
Why did the Belarusian authorities pull out an old trademark case?
Belarusian authorities like to have some justification in situations like this.
The trademark case is a stick ready to be used.
It was not used for several years, but I see that it was decided to use it again. It is, however, only an excuse.
It is notable that the recent revival of the trademark dispute, where the Supreme Court of Belarus supported our case, was done through the request of Deputy Attorney General.
I’ve already thought about the [channel] name change, but this way or another the authorities have to return the nine computers they seized.
Will the confiscation of the equipment affect the operation of the channel? Is there a plan for such emergencies?
The work of the channel will be affected: nine computers is a significant amount of equipment, which I hope the authorities will return. We do, however, have an emergency plan: the channel will not stop working on accout of the incident — I am not worried in this respect.
In September 2014, the Supreme Court of Belarus retried the case of BelsatPlus vs Belsat TV. Although plaintiff, Andrey Belyakou, failed to show any new evidence, the passed verdict was against us. Belsat TV was forbidden to use its name and trade mark in Belarus.
Andrey Belyakou, the owner of the BELSATplus company, accused the Belsat TV channel of illegally using its trade mark and asked the court to ban us from it. It is hardly possible to enforce the ban on using Belsat TV logo in the territory of Belarus, because it is registered in Poland and the EU. According to the channel’s director Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, the lawsuit against Belsat TV is politically motivated and the verdict to ban the TV station from using the trade mark is another proof of the government’s control over the case.
Our TV channel and its internet domain name are registered in Poland. As we do not broadcast from the territory of Belarus, the trade mark does not fall within its jurisdiction. Furthermore, the channel is registered as Belsat TV; the registration name of the unitary enterprise is BELSATplus (certificate # 190991566).
Mr Belyakou’s company sells satellite and cable TV equipment. In conformity with the law, one cannot block a trade mark, unless it is used in the given field, i.e. production and broadcasting of TV programs). BELSATplus has not been engaged in the activities mentioned.
