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The trade mark dispute between the Russian owners of the Geneva-based Gault&Millau International brand and the German licence holder Henris Edition GmbH has been settled. Like the Düsseldorf Regional Court before it, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (OLG) has rejected all accusations made by Gault&Millau International against Henris Edition.
The OLG found that there were no grounds whatsoever for Gault&Millau International to effectively terminate the licence agreement. In its judgement, it described the allegations made as "unfounded", "inconclusive" and "not credible". Henris Edition was not only not in arrears with licence payments, as was claimed, but even had a credit balance. Furthermore, no breaches of duty such as the alleged deviations from the ranking system or the graphic specifications could be established. There was no infringement of trade mark rights. Furthermore, Gault&Millau International had not provided any conclusive reasons for terminating the contractual relationship. The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court therefore confirmed Henris Edition as the lawful holder of the licence for Gault&Millau in Germany.
In a statement, Henris Edition co-founder Hans Fink declared his intention to take action against the "reputational and business-damaging allegations made by the Russian investors". "Obviously, the attacks on us as a German licence holder have a completely different background than our serious implementation of the valid licence."
(al / source: gourmetwelten)