Dmitry Uryakin has commented on the Novy Prospect demand by Soyuzmultfilm for compensation for the use of Cheburashka’s image

Soyuzmultfilm is demanding RUB 100,000 through a court from Robohud compsny of St Petersburg businessman Vladimir Tsimberg. The cartoonists considered that the robot-artist created by Robohud drew Cheburashka based on a famous cartoon image and infringed their copyright.

Dmitry Uryakin, Senior Associate, Head of  General Business Law Practice at Maxima Legal, told Novy Prospect that compensation in such disputes is usually calculated in several ways. “Its amount can range from RUB 10, 000 to RUB 5 mn. The final amount will be determined by a court, taking into account the nature of the violation and its duration,” the expert explained. The second option: the amount of compensation may be twice as much as the cost of the infringing copy. The third option: the right holder may request an amount twice as much as the cost of the licence. According to Dmitry, the choice of a particular method of compensation by the victim or the court depends large.

The expert also drew attention to the fact that there are quite a lot of disputes related to the infringement of intellectual property rights to cartoon characters.

Animated images are used with infringements in different product categories: food products, clothes, stationery. For example, last year Soyuzmultfilm conducted monitoring, during which it found 6, 000 violations of its copyright on popular cartoon characters.These are Cheburashka, and Crocodile Gena, and the heroes of Prostokvashino, and Winnie the Pooh with Carlson.”The average price of the claim to the violators was about RUB 50, 000,” Dmitry Uryakin said.

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