Alex S&E Ltd accused Comsales Grup Ltd of illegally using elements of its trademark via the web domain alex-se.md, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Alex S&E board told the press that the company is the owner of the Alex S&E brand and, according to the International Nice Classification, has the domain alex-se.com. According to them, the company has been on the Moldovan market for 19 years and its products are known in Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries. Electronic weights and other technological equipment produced by Alex S&E are used in commerce and in big industrial enterprises. The damages caused by Comsales Grup are estimated by Alex S&E at 700,000 lei. The latter company asked the state enterprise in charge of .md domains MoldData to unregister the alex-se.md domain. Alex S&E also notified the Ministry of the Interior and the Center sector Prosecutor’s Office, demanding the investigation of this case of illicit use of intellectual property and the violation of the Law on competition. According to the company’s director general Michael Vaisman, MoldData didn’t answer even after two months. The Ministry of the Interior and the Center sector Prosecutor’s Office however started criminal proceedings for the infringement of intellectual property rights. The prosecutor asked the National Institute of Standardization and Metrology to withdraw the technical certificate registering Comsales Grup. This is the document that allows the juridical person to perform activities in the domain of legal metrology. “It’s plain obvious that creating a webpage with the domain name alex-se.md is meant to mislead the Alex S&E customers and our partners. We know that Moldova has little experience as regards intellectual property litigation. Nonetheless, Moldova is negotiating a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU and one of its sections refers to intellectual property. We are determined to defend this right and call for the business community and civil society to support us”, Michael Vaisman declared. “Standardization and metrology, our field of activity, are of great importance for the integration of Moldovan economy on the European Union and the international markets. If we had used methods other than legal ones, we would have seriously harmed the image of our company, which promotes the principles of civilized business”, concluded the Alex S&E director general. He expressed his hope that justice will be achieved through legal means.