Copyright protection in court: what are the consequences for the infringer?

Case No. 910/19775/23 – violation of rights to a work created in the course of employment and recovery from the violator of part of his income in the amount of UAH 1,382,690.

The plaintiff, State Enterprise “Polygraphic Combine ‘Ukraine’ for the Production of Securities,” filed a lawsuit against the defendant, Subsidiary Enterprise “Polygraphic Combine ”Zorya.”

The Plaintiff’s employees developed a work for hire—a graphic image in the form of a plastic card entitled “Design of the National Police of Ukraine Service ID Card.” The Plaintiff registered the copyright for this work and received a certificate.

Subsequently, the National Police refused to purchase its service ID forms from the copyright holder, the Plaintiff, and continued to cooperate with the Defendant.

The plaintiff did not give consent for the use of the registered official work by third parties. In turn, the National Police and the defendant denied violating the plaintiff’s copyright to the official work. This served as the reason for the plaintiff to file a lawsuit.

The court upheld the claim in full, recognizing the defendant’s actions as violating property copyrights, prohibiting the use of the work created in the course of employment, and ordering the defendant to pay the plaintiff a portion of the income in the amount of UAH 1,382,690, court fees, and a fine of UAH 138,269 to the state budget.

The case is still being looked at because an appeal has been filed.

Case No. 757/47343/23-ц – violation of rights to a feature film and recovery of compensation in the amount of UAH 40,000 and moral damages in the amount of UAH 70,000.

The author of an audiovisual work, namely a feature film, filed a lawsuit against Channel 5 TV Limited Liability Company.

The author states that she did not give her consent to the use of fragments of her feature film in the channel’s television program.

In addition, the content was distorted and misrepresented, and montages from completely different material were used, which completely distorted the work. Fragments of the film were used without specific reference to the title of the work or the author.

The author also suffered moral damage. Since the author’s content was reworked, this had a negative impact on the author’s image and reputation, causing her moral and psychological suffering.

The claim was upheld in full. The court decided to restore the violated copyright to the television film by removing its fragments from YouTube, obliged Limited Liability Company “Channel 5 TV” to cease actions that violate copyright by stopping the demonstration of fragments of the television film, award the author compensation in the amount of UAH 40,000 and moral damages in the amount of UAH 70,000, as well as court costs.

The case is still being looked at because an appeal has been filed.

Case No. 912/3546/19 – unauthorized use of a trademark and recovery of UAH 120,000 in damages

Markholder Limited Liability Company filed a lawsuit against individual entrepreneur Olena Petrivna Maidanuk.

The plaintiff alleges that O.P. Maidanuk illegally used the trademark by placing it on the sign of a jewelry store located in Kropyvnytskyi. The defendant did not conclude the relevant license agreements with the owner, Markholder LLC.

The court established that the plaintiff is a legal entity created for the purpose of making a profit, whose main activity is the leasing of intellectual property and similar products, and whose source of income is the transfer, under license agreements, to other business entities of non-exclusive property rights to intellectual property objects owned by it.

Thus, if the plaintiff’s rights had not been violated, under normal circumstances, the plaintiff could have actually received UAH 120,000 in income from each contract concluded with such a business entity. In confirmation, the plaintiff provided a contract concluded in a related legal relationship with another business entity.

The claim was satisfied in full. The court decided to recover from individual entrepreneur Olena Petrivna Maidanuk in favor of Markholder Limited Liability Company damages in the amount of UAH 120,000, as well as court fees.

The Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the court of first instance.

Conclusions

Copyright holders have the right to go to court to protect their rights in case of infringement. For example, plagiarism, use of works without permission, violation of terms of use.

In court, you can demand recognition of your copyright, cessation of the violation, monetary compensation from the violator, damages, income, or moral damages, and other claims.

Therefore, if pre-trial settlement has not yielded results, it is worth gathering evidence of the violation and considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit.