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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
ANOTHER PERSON'S NAME ON THE SIGNBOARD. HOW MUCH THEY PAY FOR IT IN EUROPE
In Ukraine you pay a fine for using someone else's brand. In Italy, for the same thing, you can get up to six years. The owner of the Domino chain, Anton Shukhnin, it seems, was calculating using the Ukrainian rate.
What he did. 26 July 2012 Shukhnin files an application for the JACOB COHEN mark. In 2015 he receives certificate No. 199402 for clothing, footwear, and retail trade. By that time the Italians already had international registrations in force for 2004 and 2007 years. In October 2025 the Pecherskyi Court of Kyiv declared the Ukrainian certificate invalid: the Italian marks are older, and the similarity misleads the buyer. Among the defendants is the Lithuanian UAB Domino Grupe.
The picture with Stefano Ricci is more interesting. Domino calls itself the official representative of the Florentine house in Ukraine. At the same time, there was a legal dispute over the Ukrainian registration of STEFANO RICCI involving Shukhnin. The Paris Convention described a representative who registers his principal’s name in his own name more than half a century ago. In such a case the owner of the mark has the right to cancel it.
Why this is needed. A certificate for someone else's name works like a key to a door. With it, the mark is entered into the customs register and foreign consignments are stopped at the border. It cuts off competitors who import the same brand. Or they go to the real owner and negotiate how much they will pay to get the key back. Which option happened here will be shown by the documents.
Absolution is already in contact with lawyers for Jacob Cohen Company S.p.A. We will shortly receive materials from the Italian side regarding the history of the registrations and use of the mark. The investigation will then proceed jointly with the rights holder’s lawyers, with all legal consequences in Ukraine and in the European Union. We check every document from Italy as evidence for both jurisdictions.
And here the Ukrainian rate runs out.
What this threatens in the EU. If the use of the marks on the territory of the European Union is confirmed, the Italian rights holder can sue Shukhnin in its home country. The EU Trade Mark Regulation states plainly: if the defendant does not reside in and does not have a business in the EU, the lawsuit is filed in the plaintiff's country. The decision of such a court applies throughout the Union. The Lithuanian UAB Domino Grupe is tried in Lithuania, also with effect across the entire EU.
An Italian court under the Industrial Property Code can prohibit use of the mark, withdraw the goods from circulation, impose a fine for each day of noncompliance, recover damages together with profits made on someone else's name, and publish the decision at the offender's expense. An EU registration filed in bad faith will be annulled. A mark that an agent registered without consent can be demanded to be transferred to the owner.
The criminal part in Italy. Article 473 of the Criminal Code: for forging or using someone else's mark from six months to three years and a fine up to 25 thousand euros. Article 474: importing goods with a counterfeit mark from one to four years, sale up to two years. If this is done systematically, through an organized structure, the term increases to six years, and the fine to 50 thousand euros. The goods are confiscated. The company is separately liable: law 231/2001 provides for legal entities’ liability for these crimes. The articles are applied when the goods or sales concern the territory of Italy. This is exactly what we are now checking.
Customs. Under EU Regulation 608/2013 the customs of any Member State detain a consignment at the rights holder’s request. Lithuania is suitable for this just as Italy is.
What this threatens in Ukraine. Article 229 of the Criminal Code, unlawful use of a mark: for significant damage a fine from 1000 to 4000 non-taxable minimums, that is from 17 to 68 thousand hryvnias, in severe cases up to 170 thousand. Plus claims for damages. If goods of non-Italian origin were sold under the Italian name, that falls under other articles. About those in the next piece.
We will send questions to Anton Shukhnin and publish his response in full. The Pecherskyi Court decision may be appealed; we are checking its status.
The authority issues a certificate for someone else’s name. The bill for it is presented by the rights holder.
To be continued. Next piece: possible criminal-legal qualification in Ukraine.
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