The Russian company WebSheriff is in a trademark dispute with the English service WebSheriff.

Two anti-piracy services—the Russian WebSheriff and the English WebSheriff—have launched a trademark battle. The owners of the English company believe their Russian counterparts are fraudsters illegally owning the trademark. The Russians, however, maintain that the trademark is legally registered with Rospatent.

The British company isn't ruling out a possible lawsuit against the Russian company. This dispute is also interesting because both services operate in the same industry, and both have registered their trademarks in the countries where their companies are registered.

The British company registered the name "Web Sheriff" as a trademark in the UK back in 2002. The company plans to open a Russian office, but to do so, it will need to cancel the registration of the "Web Sheriff" trademark, currently owned by X-Media, in court. Furthermore, the English Web Sheriff will seek payment of a fine from the Russian company, but this will be done in American courts.

In a press release, Web Sheriff called the Russian company "imposters" and its website a scam.

The Russian company also owns a registered trademark, but in Russia, which was registered in 2009.

The English Web Sheriff and the Russian WebSheriff are engaged in a similar business – they help their clients protect copyrights on the internet.

Commenting on the similarity of the names, X-Media stated that when starting business under the Websheriff brand, the company "was not obligated to know about the existence of such a trademark in any country in the world," and that the responsibility for such verification lies with Rospatent.