The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has banned self-proclaimed inventor Viktor Petrik from using the name of Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to promote water filters, Interfax reported Friday.
The service ruled that using Shoigu’s name in the titles of filter brands was misleading because the minister had not endorsed Petrik’s products.
A Moscow district court will begin hearings Monday in the lawsuit to ban Petrik’s filters altogether, filed by an independent consumer rights watchdog.
Petrik, who claimed credit for research that earned two Russian-born physicists a Nobel prize this month, has enjoyed support from senior United Russia members including Shoigu but appeared to lose it amid public criticism of his inventions.
(MT)
