Court marshals visit Google’s Moscow office in connection with injunction against ‘Smart Vote’ search results

Court marshal’s visited Google’s Moscow office in the Balchug Plaza business center on the evening of Monday, September 13.

Russia’s Federal Bailiffs Service (FSSP) told Interfax that the visit was in connection with enforcement proceedings that were opened on September 7, with regard to a court ruling prohibiting Google from showing results for the phrase umnoe golosovanie (“smart vote”). 

According to Mash, there was only one employee at the office when the court marshals showed up. The employee called a lawyer, who, over the phone, informed the court marshals that the office belongs to the Russian company Gugl OOO, while the court’s claims are in relation to another legal entity — the American company Google LLC.

On September 3, Moscow’s Arbitration Court prohibited Google and Yandex from showing search results for the phrase “smart vote” as an injunctive measure in a copyright lawsuit brought by a wool company that acquired the Russian patent to Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Vote” brand. The company, “Woolintertrade,” registered the trademark in July.