Forbes readers and its publisher were surprised last year when they saw a “special edition” of the magazine dedicated solely to investing in Russia’s strife-torn Dagestan region. Depicting on its cover a businessman standing on a seashore wearing a traditional Caucasian shaggy woolen hat, the publication advised its readers on how to “multiply their capital in Dagestan.”
The problem: Forbes had nothing to do with the publication, and is now suing a Dagestani firm called Neftyanik for abusing its trademark.
The font and design on the fake magazine’s cover evoke an “unequivocal association with Forbes magazine,” Forbes said in a statement on www.forbes.ru [1]. The Arbitration Court of Dagestan will hear the case on September 16, Forbes said. Neftyanik could not be reached for comment.
Forbes is not the only Western publication to have inspired Russian counterparts. Russian bloggers in June remarked on similarities between the redesigned version of newspaper Izvestia and The Wall Street Journal.
Izvestia’s publisher told local news outlet RSN that the changes reflected “world trends” and the similarities were due to the narrow paper format used by the Journal and adopted by Izvestia.
The Russian newspaper has since tweaked its format, although bloggers have also commented on similarities between its website izvestia.ru and the Journal’s website.
Bloggers have also noted similarities between local news website lifenews.ru and the website of Sky News, news.sky.com.
By Ira Iosebashvili