Kommersant reports that the four largest Russian producers of Sovetskoe Champagne have written to the Russian Agriculture Minister asking him to transfer the Sovetskoe trade mark to the Producers of Champagne Wines, a non-profit organisation, the mission of which you can probably guess from its name. The mark is currently held by Soyuzplodoimport, a company which manages a number of trade marks on behalf of the state. At present, the “champagne” producers pay a licence fee that enables them to use the mark, but it has come to their attention that Soyuzplodoimport intends to sell the mark to a non-protit undertaking that does not produce sparkling wine. The “champagne” producers are concerned that they won’t be able to use the mark under the new ownership.The IPKat was goggle-eyed when he read this story. He thought that the French producers of Champagne had managed to eradicate all other uses of the term on wine. However, it seems that the use on Sovetskoe Champagne, first developed in the 1930s to provide a Soviet alternative to Champagne, remains.