Two designers for 260 rubles were estimated by anti-pirates at almost 180 thousand because of Poli’s robocar. Krasnoyarsk anti- pirates sweat almost 180 thousand from a Novosibirsk entrepreneur for images of transformers
The Krasnoyarsk autonomous non-profit organization «Krasnoyarsk against piracy» demanded from the Novosibirsk entrepreneur almost 180 thousand rubles for two packs of pirated products based on the cartoon «Robocar Poli». Counterfeit in the form of two small sets of constructors was discovered during test purchases.
The seller’s goods appeared by chance — by a strange coincidence, a few days before purchases. NGS correspondent Ilya Kalinin listened to all sides of the conflict and even found the true owner of the counterfeit.
How kids’ construction kits skyrocketed in price
Representatives of ANO «Krasnoyarsk against piracy» on August 13 and 16, 2020 made test purchases at the stationery sales departments in Novosibirsk shopping centers on Dachnaya and Kropotkin streets. During the procurement, counterfeit construction sets with characters from the South Korean animated series «Robocar Poli» were purchased. The cost of each set is 130 rubles.
After a while, the owner of retail outlets — 68-year-old entrepreneur Lyubov Chernikova — Krasnoyarsk anti-pirates offered to settle the conflict out of court for 105 thousand rubles plus costs. The woman refused to pay, then the representatives of the ANO «Krasnoyarsk against piracy» filed a claim with the Novosibirsk Arbitration Court for 170 thousand rubles and legal costs in the amount of about 10 thousand rubles.
The court session has not yet been scheduled: the parties are still collecting documents for submission to the process.
From the text of the claim, a copy of which is available in the editorial office, it is clear that the plaintiff calculated the damage separately for each cartoon character depicted on the two packages. The image of one transformer cost a Novosibirsk entrepreneur 10 or 20 thousand rubles.
Where did the entrepreneur get the counterfeit goods?
Before the test purchase of Robocar Poly constructors, about a couple of weeks, as Lyubov Chernikova recalls, a neighbor who sells nearby in a store on Dachnaya asked for help with the sale of goods.
— I buy all the goods from my regular, trusted supplier. But at that time, due to the coronavirus, I was quarantined by age, and the goods at the points ran out. I couldn’t make a purchase… And a neighbor was selling toys nearby — ordinary toys, like everyone else’s. And at some point he closed the point, I don’t know for what reason. He still had a department, but with other products — all about the household. And he offered the rest of the toys to my seller for sale. He offered normal toys at the purchase price: dolls, cars, construction sets. Well, I agreed. Then at some point he brought more and more. And now these designers were in the last batch. Only two boxes, which were bought for 260 rubles, — the entrepreneur Chernikova told the reporter.
According to the woman, she distributed the goods received for sale at two points, where a few days later test purchases took place.
What the owner of the constructors says
The real owner of the goods transferred by Chernikova for sale is Oleg Sinitsyn. Now he is an individual entrepreneur, although at that time, according to Kontur.Fokus, he was not. Sinitsyn himself confirmed this to the NGS correspondent.
— I gave her the goods, she promised to give the money. As a result, she threw me with the money. I will sue her for deception. This product is from a flea market. I have no documents for this product. I sold it not as an individual entrepreneur, but as an individual, I did not have an individual entrepreneur at that time. These were unnecessary toys, I didn’t know where to put them, and I offered to buy her for a penny literally. So she took it, that’s all. She did not give the money — she said that she was punished and she would not give anything. And I say: «What have I got to do with it?» She’s a strange person. Well, okay, everything is on her conscience, — businessman Oleg Sinitsyn explained to the NGS correspondent.
Who are the Krasnoyarsk anti-pirates
ANO «Krasnoyarsk against piracy» was founded on September 2, 2018. Previously, the organization was called «Protection of Intellectual Rights» Krasnoyarsk Against Piracy «». According to the system «Kontur.Fokus», for three years this organization, as a plaintiff, filed 1,618 claims in the courts for 104 million rubles. Has won and partially won 269 cases for 15.5 million rubles. She did not win 16 cases for the amount of 1.8 million rubles. 1079 cases worth 71 million rubles are still pending.
On its website ANO Krasnoyarsk against piracy declares «openness and transparency», however, Deputy Director Lyubov Pridvornaya did not want to comment on the conflict to the NGS correspondent and talk about the activities of her company.
— In this case, the lawsuit was filed in court. The case is pending before the Arbitration Court of the Novosibirsk Region. We do not give comments on this case, — explained the Courtier.
How often does this organization conduct test purchases, in which regions, which brands it represents, why they decided to buy at these points and other questions Lyubov Pridvornaya left unanswered. The woman explained: this is «classified information, not for distribution in the media.»
If you study the regional media, you can find many publications about similar mass lawsuits of this organization against small entrepreneurs. On February 25, 2020, the Irkutsk Gorod website told about the same claims for counterfeit Robocar Poli sets to one of the sellers of Bratsk. City notes that such a massive judicial attack often simply paralyzes small businesses and can lead to ruin.
According to other publications in the media, one can understand that Krasnoyarsk Against Piracy protects in courts the rights associated with other animated series: Fairy Tale Patrol, Peppa Pig, Barboskins, Angry Birds. Once the Krasnoyarsk anti-pirates defended the rights of Vaenga.
What the lawyers say
Inna Sergunyaeva, a lawyer at the Lexen law firm, explained to the NGS correspondent that such organizations, as a rule, have all the legal rights to represent the interests of rightholders in courts. The fact that the total amount in the claim consists of many compensations for each image, the lawyer noted, is also a completely legal practice.
— Such calculation of compensation is provided for by law and is regulated by the norms of the Civil Code. But we have a decision of the Constitutional Court, which says: if the offense was committed for the first time, also if the plaintiff admitted his guilt, eliminated the violation. In general, there are a number of criteria that help reduce the amount of compensation even below the lower limit. 10 thousand per image is the minimum legal compensation limit. That is, it is possible to reduce compensation even below this limit, — said the lawyer Inna Sergunyaeva.
In September 2017, the NGS told the story of a young man who, according to the investigation, installed pirated versions of Windows and Microsoft Office and was detained by the security forces who developed the whole operation.
