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Spotify, крупнейший музыкальный онлайн-сервис по количеству подписчиков, был запущен 15 июля в России и двенадцати других странах. Юридическая фирма Semenov&Pevzner оказала поддержку Spotify в связи с вопросами регулирования интеллектуальной собственности на российском рынке, а также в Украине, Беларуси, Молдове и Казахстане.

Юристы Semenov&Pevzner разработали для российской сети розничной продажи рыбных изделий Рыбсеть юридическую модель выхода сети на новый рынок на территории республики Казахстан. Наша работа включала анализ существующей схемы выстраивания отношений с клиентами в России и поиск оптимального варианта по их структурированию в Казахстане. Мы также разработали договор коммерческой концессии с учетом специфики местного рынка, а также агентский договор для партнера для маркетингового продвижения франчайзинговой сети в стране. 

Британская компания Entertainment One UK Limited обратилась к нам за защитой прав на персонажей мультипликационного сериала «Герои в Масках». Нарушитель – известный организатор цирковых представлений, использовал образы героев сериала в своих спектаклях. Команда юристов Semenov&Pevzner зафиксировала постановки в нескольких городах. Переговоры с нарушителем успеха не принесли, после чего спор был передан на рассмотрение суда. По итогам судебного разбирательства организатор спектаклей был признан виновным в допущенном нарушении, суд обязал его выплатить правообладателю компенсацию в размере 1 000 000 рублей. 

Наши юристы оказывают юридическое сопровождение российского партнера международной франчайзинговой сети Domino's Pizza в России, в частности, содействуют разрешению спорных ситуаций с текущими франчайзи, связанных с пределами использования комплекса исключительных прав, задолженности по договорам, соблюдению договоров коммерческой концессии, участвуют в  составлении правовых документов и правовых заключений по текущим вопросам деятельности компании и вопросам оптимизации работы.

В споре за доменное имя gorodsveta.ru столкнулись интересы владельца сайта (ответчик) и обладателя исключительного права товарный знак Gorod Sveta (истец). Команде Semenov&Pevzner удалось доказать, что доменное имя gorodsveta.ru схоже до степени смешения с товарным знаком истца и добиться удовлетворения иска. Суд запретил нарушителю использовать обозначение Gorod Sveta в доменном имени gorodsveta.ru и обязал его выплатить правообладателю компенсацию, несмотря на то что сам домен был зарегистрирован на 10 лет раньше товарного знака. По итогу спора контроль над доменом был передан клиенту Semenov&Pevzner.

One would have thought that these days, thanks to the internet and global transparency, there are no businesses left that knowingly misuse for their own gain other firms’ trade marks; yet this is not how things stand. Semenov & Pevzner assisted UK’s Entertainment One with their claim regarding the illegal use of the image of Peppa Pig, the lead character of the eponymous animated series, by a large supplier of counterfeit toys. At the end of the litigation the infringer ended up paying over 8,500,000 roubles in compensation - one of the largest awards in cases like this.

At the end of the year 2017 Asmodee Group, the French maker of the board game ‘Dixit’, brought a lawsuit against Cosmodrome, the maker of another popular game ‘Imaginarium’, alleging unfair competition. Asmodee Group petitioned the court to ban the production and distribution of ‘Imaginarium’ in Russia and abroad. Representing the defendant, Semenov & Pevzner saw the claim rejected in full. Cosmodrome retained an unrestricted right to make and sell the game.

At the request of Harman International Industries Incorporated, the owner of the brand JBL, Semenov & Pevzner designed and implemented an anti-piracy campaign in 2018. As part of the campaign, 15 raids were carried out in Moscow, across markets and retail chains. The raids revealed over 650 instances of trade in counterfeit goods imitating popular JBL products, and Semenov & Pevzner issued claims and filed lawsuits in each case, eventually securing 51 judgments in favour of the right holder.

The major music label sought Semenov & Pevzner’s help in its dispute with the video service Coub.Com. The proceedings went into several stages and took almost a year and a half to complete: the court of first instance sided with the claimant in August 2017, and Coub.Com’s subsequent appeal was unsuccessful. It was not long before Coub.Com would repeat the infringement – in the summer of 2018 Semenov & Pevzner secured a permanent blocking order against the video service, which prompted a new start of negotiations and, in November 2018, the parties settled.

Ecompomservice, one of the largest recycling equipment manufacturers, approached Semenov & Pevzner in connection with a nearly 200 million roubles trade mark infringement claim it had received from a competitor. Semenov & Pevzner’s masterfully designed defence strategy helped to reduce the amount of damages to 200,000 roubles – a tenfold decrease – in the court of first instance. Appeals ensued, and in the end the court dismissed the unfair competitor’s claim in full and ordered the cancellation of the trade mark in question.

The British company engaged Semenov & Pevzner after an online store used its trade mark in a board game ad. Having preserved evidence with the help of a notary, Semenov & Pevzner proved that the respondent sought to unlawfully monetise the claimant’s intellectual property. The court sided with the claimant and awarded compensatory damages.

In 2018 Rapidgator.net was among the largest illegal file-sharing services averaging $3,7 million in yearly revenue. On the music label’s instructions, Semenov & Pevzner sued the foreign domain owner, a Russian telecom operator and the hosting-provider. A technical expert clarified the algorithm of the file-sharer to the court and confirmed the technical viability of the claimant’s demands, helping to secure a judgement in favour of Warner Music. The respondent’s appeal was unsuccessful.

An international corporation headquartered in London, OUTFIT7 is the right holder of the world-renowned franchise Talking Tom and Friends. Semenov & Pevzner discovered goods illegally bearing the Talking Tom trade mark on sale at the large electronics retailer Eldorado. Semenov & Pevzner carried out and filmed test purchases of the counterfeit goods in 20 cities across the country and caused the opponent to disclose information on available stock even before court proceedings began. The respondent ended up paying to the right holder 3,235,000 roubles, the entire amount claimed.

Semenov & Pevzner are engaged by Megalicense to assist with contractual licensing of various brands. In 2017 and 2018 Semenov & Pevzner oversaw the sub-licensing of the manufacturing and distribution of official merchandise of the FIFA World Cup 2018 and the opening of authorised retail stores.

The Semenov & Pevzner team represented Harman International Industries Incorporated, the brand owner of JBL, after a cyber-squatter illegally registered the domain name harman.ru. Attempts at out-of-court settlement proved unsuccessful, and Semenov & Pevzner took the cyber-squatter to court. The court ordered the transfer of the domain name to the claimant and awarded 500,000 roubles in compensatory damages.

A local theatre in the city of Blagoveschensk included the British company’s trade marks into children’s plays, rendering the performance of licensed shows economically unviable. Semenov & Pevzner compiled a body of evidence demonstrating the fault on the part of the NGO behind the theatre and succeeded in having the respondent disclose revenue figures. The court sided with the claimant and awarded compensatory damages.

One of the largest animated franchise rights holders, Entertainment One UK Limited (Peppa Pig, PJ Masks) sought Semenov & Pevzner’s help with the protection of its “Peppa Pig” trade mark from an infringement committed by a large wholesale manufacturer of counterfeit toys. Semenov & Pevzner secured an award of 8,500,000 roubles in compensatory damages, making it one of the highest-value victories over trade mark infringers in the children’s goods industry.  

Semenov & Pevzner team represented the international heavyweight FOX in a landmark lawsuit against Russia’s regional cable TV provider that was illegally re-broadcasting Fox, National Geographic, and other TV channels. While piracy on provincial cable channels is rampant, lawsuits are rare: the costs of gathering evidence customarily outweigh potential compensatory damages. In a trailblazing effort, Semenov & Pevzner managed to challenge the status quo: the court put an end to the re-broadcasting and ordered compensatory damages of 500,000 roubles.

One of Warner Music subsidiaries, the Russian music publisher S.B.A. Music Publishing enlisted the help of Semenov & Pevzner in its dispute with Russia’s largest federal TV channel. The channel had used the music of Raimonds Pauls in its production The Voice without the publisher’s authorisation. After the channel turned down an offer to settle the dispute Semenov & Pevzner took it to court where the judge handed down an award of compensatory damages.

A famous Russian translator Victor Weber sought Semenov & Pevzner’s assistance in defending his copyright after his translations were unlawfully published by a Russian ebook platform Bookmate. Semenov & Pevzner filed several lawsuits and threatened with the blocking of access to the infringer’s website, prompting Bookmate to enter into a licensing agreement with the author and pay compensatory damages.

In 2007, Iconmedia released Guf’s album and they did not work together again. Nearly 10 years later Iconmedia registered the trade mark Guf and proceeded to file over 10 claims against the rapper with an aggregate value in excess of 1 million roubles. Semenov & Pevzner joined the case at the appeal stage and managed to prove it to the court that the rapper was already performing under the name Guf as early as in 2004, which was way in advance of the trade mark’s priority date. All of the first instance judgements in favour of Iconmedia were quashed in the appeal. Iconmedia’s claims were rejected, and the trade mark was subsequently cancelled.

In Russia, Universal Music had found itself in the same boat with other major music corporations: VKontakte was actively monetising the company’s content notwithstanding numerous complaints. The right holder sued. Semenov & Pevzner managed to overcome the impasse that had arisen in the dispute, and the parties settled at the second appeal stage.

Once Russia’s largest piracy site, VKontakte social network attracted hundreds of millions of users with its free films and readily available music. Just like other major music companies, Warner Music was suffering multi-million losses as terabytes of its content were made available to the public for free. Semenov & Pevzner succeeded in securing a settlement that became a landmark success for intellectual property protection in Russia. The uncompromising infringer retreated, and the parties entered into a settlement agreement followed by a licensing one

The Australian music streaming service Guvera has long expanded internationally, and already had over 10 million paying subscribers in 2015. Guvera engaged Semenov & Pevzner to carry out an extensive legal due diligence of intellectual property assets ahead of Guvera’s deal with a large Russian company.

This widely publicised case dealt a death blow to torrent piracy in Russia. Semenov & Pevzner represented SBA Production, the subsidiary of Warner Music, up against Russia’s then largest torrent platform Rutracker. When SBA Productions attempts at amicable resolution failed Semenov & Pevzner initiated litigation that culminated in the permanent blocking of Rutracker in Russia.

With a catalogue of music by Via Gra, Valery Meladze, DJ Smash and the like, Velvet Music is one of Russia’s leading music labels. The music company enlisted the help of Semenov & Pevzner in a fight against zaycev.net, a website with over 13 million users that was illegally distributing Velvet Music’s repertoire. The infringer was not minded to resolve the dispute until Semenov&Pevzer secured a blocking order from

Semenov& Pevzner helped the renowned British right holder to resolve their dispute with restaurant chain Coffeemania that was illegally using the image of Tatty Teddy (Me to You Bear). After the chain refused to settle Semenov & Pevzner took it to court, and compensatory damages were awarded