Minikim Holland B.V., the Dutch company that owns the Love Is brand, has filed a lawsuit against Russian retail chain Magnit and Moskovsky Kartofel in an arbitration court in the Kaluga region, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.
The dispute centers on a Valentine’s Day promotion called “Love in Every Pack,” which ran from February 1 to March 31 to mark the February 14 holiday. According to Minikim, the chip maker used packaging featuring “an image of a boy and a girl traditionally used by Love Is that is confusingly similar.”
According to Minikim Holland, neither Moskovsky Kartofel nor AO Tander, the operating company behind the Magnit chain, obtained a license to use the copyrighted material.
Lawyers say Minikim Holland B.V. has filed more than 20 lawsuits against Russian companies over the past two years, and in most cases, courts have ruled that using elements of the Love Is series without the rights holder’s consent constitutes infringement.
Minikim said it had been willing to settle with Moskovsky Kartofel, but the company stated it was not interested in resolving the dispute.
New Zealand cartoonist Kim Casali created the Love Is comic strips in the 1960s, drawing short scenes about her feelings for her future husband. The comics began appearing in newspapers in 1970, and one of her best-known drawings, Love is… the ability to ask forgiveness, published in 1972, sold for years worldwide on postcards and souvenirs. The strips became so popular that the couple founded the Minikim corporation. In Russia, the Love Is brand is best known for the inserts that came with the chewing gum of the same name.
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