LLC “National Musical Publishing House”(NMPH), which owns the rights to the song of the group “Kino” “A Star named the Sun”, has won a dispute over copyright infringement against LLC “Almaznaya Chariot”, LLC “Makers Lab” and Irina Afanasyeva. The defendants were the creators of the musical ” The Diamond Chariot, based on the novel of the same name by Boris Akunin. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region ordered the defendants to pay 1.4 million rubles in compensation in favor of the NMPH and forbade the inclusion of the song in the performance.
According to Vera Zotova, a Senior Associate in our Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice, the defendant in the case chose a good tactic by referring to Art. 1274 of the Civil Code of Russian Federation and this could have led to success. However, the defendants’ further actions did not allow them to win the case.