Re Trading registers Cyrillic-lettered Reserved and Sinsay brands in Russia
Re Trading, which manages brands previously owned by Poland's LPP Group (Reserved, House, Cropp, Mohito and Sinsay), has applied to register trademarks for brands of the same name in Cyrillic (Резервед, Хаус, Кропп, Мохито and Синсей), Izvestia reports, citing the Russian patent office, Rospatent.
The Russian company registered the trademarks under classes 35 and 25 of the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS) — marketing and sale of clothing.
LPP is one of the largest fashion retailers in Central and Eastern Europe, headquartered in Gdańsk, Poland. The retail chain has more than 2,800 stores in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The group's shares are traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
An LPP spokesperson told Izvestia that the Reserved, House, Cropp, Mohito and Sinsay trademarks were protected and registered to LPP S.A. long before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, and that they are not aware of the new owner registering trademarks identical to those of the Polish company in Russia.
LPP closed its stores in Russia in March 2022, suspended investments in the local market and stopped product deliveries. In May of the same year, the group announced the sale of its Russian subsidiary, Re Trading, to the Chinese investment consortium FES Retail. The new owner rebranded the Russian stores: Reserved became Re, Cropp became Cr, Mohito became M, House became XC, and Sinsay became Sin.
The LPP spokesperson pointed out that the deal did not give the buyer the right to register or use trademarks belonging to the Polish holding company. He said that only during a 12-month transition period did Re Trading have the right to sell goods previously ordered for the Russian market and already marked with LPP brands.
According to two sources cited by Izvestia, LPP would like to return to the Russian market, which until 2022 was its largest market after Poland. The key obstacle to its return remains the "tense political situation."