On August 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued a ruling according to which the judgements of three court instances were overturned. As a result, the case was sent for a new trial, in which the right holder confirmed its exclusive right to the figures from the Blue Nose Friends Characters series only by an affidavit signed by the CFO. The Court pointed out that the affidavit itself may constitute evidence, nevertheless, the document merely confirms the existence of the disputed work at the time when the affidavit was executed and indicates that the plaintiff considers itself the owner of the exclusive right to the image.
In order to prove that the exclusive right to characters belongs to a legal entity, it is necessary to prove a chain of legal facts: the creation of the character by specific authors, the basis for the transfer of the right from these authors to the customer or employer, and often the further transfer of rights from this initial right holder to the plaintiff. Certainly, an affidavit may prove some circumstances in this chain, but then must be disclosed in the document, and the person who makes an assertion about them must show the source of the knowledge. From this point of view, the ruling is not revolutionary, as Senior Partner of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm Irina Ozolina noted in her commentary for the Attorney’s Newspaper, but rather returns the practice to the long-established principles of proving the plaintiff's exclusive right to a product, from which court practice has recently begun to move away.
For more details on the commentary (in Russian) please follow the link.