Danon believes that the Belarusian producer copied the packaging design of Activia yogurt taking their corporate style.
Danone sued the Belarusian company “Savushkin Product” because of copyright infringement on packaging design.
Danone claims that the packaging of the yogurt “Optimal” produces by the “Savushkin Product” is a copying of their corporate style with a slight modification of the yogurt “Activia”. The company is seeking compensation of 88.2 million rubles from the Belarusian producer. Danon clarify the amount of compensation is due to the fact they spent their own funds for the development of the design and promotion, and they do not intend to tolerate copyright infringement.
Before filing a lawsuit, Danon had notified “Savushkin Product” its concerns about the infringement. However, the Belarusian producer did not respond to their concerns.
Representatives of “Savushkin Product” claimed that they did not receive any official notices of filing a lawsuit in court from Danone. Also, their director of Public Relations claimed that the trademark "Optimal" was developed, registered and launched on the market in February 2013. There was a redesigning of its packaging in November 2017. The design was developed for them by a Russian agency that guaranteed the originality of its work.
