The plant attempted to challenge the grant of trademark protection for the element "HA-GEN", which is owned by the company. According to the applicant, the disputed designation misleads consumers as to the location of the manufacturer. Hagen is one of the oldest cities in Germany and is well known.

The Intellectual Property Court rejected the plant's arguments. The law does not establish an unconditional ban on the use of geographical names in trademarks.

Only under certain conditions can it be argued that the Russian consumer may be misled by associating a particular designation with the location of the manufacturer. For this purpose, it is necessary to establish, that the name is known to the consumer as such. At the same time, it is perceived as the place of the production of goods that are on the Russian market or distributed abroad, which is known to the domestic consumer.
 
In this case, Hagen is a relatively small, sparsely populated city in western Germany. It does not have world-famous attractions. Therefore, there is no reason to conclude that it is known to the average Russian consumer.
 
Thus, it has not been proven that the contested trademark is perceived by the consumer as a geographical indication, and not as a means of product individualization.