The photograph was shared by Girts Jaunzem. "My find in a store in Tajikistan: the sprats are produced in Russia, in Kaliningrad, but apparently sell better with a panorama of Riga on the can and the name in Latvian. That's all you need to know about the power of the great 'Russian brand'," he wrote. The publication sparked a discussion. Some users called such packaging a forgery and misleading to consumers. Others noted that similar cases have occurred before. The author of the publication himself suggested that formally, the use of such packaging may not be prohibited. As an example, he cited boxes of chocolates from the Lithuanian manufacturer Pergalė sold abroad with the inscription "Rīga" and an image of the Latvian capital. In the comments, a question arose about whether the name "Riga Sprats" is a registered trademark. The Patent Office of Latvia explained that several verbal and figurative trademarks containing the phrase "Rīgas šprotes" are registered in the country. The owner of these individual and collective trademarks is the society Rīgas šprotes. At the same time, protection extends to the trademark as a whole, and the exclusive rights of the owner do not necessarily apply to each individual word that makes it up. This especially applies to commonly used designations. For example, the word "sprats" describes a type of product and can therefore be used by other manufacturers. Moreover, trademark rights are territorial in nature. This means that the mark is protected in the territory where it is registered. If the trademark is registered only in Latvia, its Latvian registration alone does not provide protection in other countries. For broader protection, the mark must be registered, for example, in the territory of the entire European Union or separately in the countries chosen by the owner.
