Maxim Ali commented for “Pravo.ru” the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the protection of rights on WebMoney currency

In 2019, the owner of 5,000 WMZ in the WebMoney International Settlement System transferred them under several assignment agreements to another person for $6,000. Having not received money for the title signs, their former owner appealed to the court. The court of first instance, as well as the appeal and cassation rejected the claim, explaining that the object of cession were tangible goods and real money, which, in their opinion, does not include WebMoney currency. However, the Supreme Court did not agree with the decisions of the lower courts and returned the dispute for a new trial, arguing that the WMZ has property value, and therefore is the object of rights.

Maxim Ali, Head of Intellectual Property and Information Technologies practice at Maxima Legal, drew attention of “Pravo.ru” to the fact that “after the law on the national payment system appeared, WebMoney in every way tried to avoid the status of the operator of electronic money in order not to fulfill additional obligations”. The expert also noted that the service has a fairly complex structure of documents. For example, transactions with each type of internal currency are regulated by separate agreements.

In Maxim’s opinion the position of the lower courts jeopardized the stability of relations in the WebMoney service, while the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has taken a fair approach, protecting the interests of the entire civil turnover.

The expert also hoped “that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will continue to recognize virtual property as an object of rights. Such a problem also exists in the sale of virtual game objects – characters or virtual weapons – for real money. Courts often apply the rules on games and betting to such relations and deny legal protection to players”.

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