Cross-Border Branding Dispute Governed by English Law

Lions Lawyers - London - Kyiv

We advised in a complex cross-border dispute arising from a high-value branding agreement between a major Ukrainian energy-sector company and a UK-based international branding consultancy.

The agreement, governed by English law, concerned the development of a corporate master brand and a retail sub-brand and was structured as a multi-stage project with defined deliverables, timelines, and performance-based payment mechanisms. The total contract value exceeded £460,000 and incorporated phased implementation, formal acceptance procedures, and conditional payment obligations tied to documented performance.

The dispute required detailed analysis of staged execution, contractual acceptance mechanisms, procedural compliance, and the legal interdependence between performance and payment under English law. Particular attention was devoted to the interpretation of contractual documentation requirements, authority of signatories, amendment procedures, termination rights, and the evidentiary weight of acceptance certificates.

Our role involved strategic dispute assessment, contractual interpretation under English law principles, evaluation of performance qualification, and risk analysis in the context of potential litigation or international dispute resolution proceedings.

The matter demonstrates the importance of structured contract drafting, clear acceptance frameworks, and documentary discipline in cross-border commercial engagements — particularly where foreign governing law applies and enforcement considerations must be assessed from the outset.