Zuykov and partners proved the fact of reworking the design in the case of copyright infringement

On June 11, 2025, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region issued a decision in case No A41-31198/2023 on the claim of Premont Trade LLC against Rich Family LLC and Wildberries LLC for the recovery of compensation for violation of exclusive property rights.

In this case, the interests of the plaintiff - Premont Trade LLC - were represented by Zuykov and partners. The consideration of this case took more than 2 years.

The plaintiff is the copyright holder of the design of the clothing print (pattern) under the symbol "branch point park (AOR-311 dark pink)". The plaintiff became aware that the wildberries.ru and richfamily.ru websites advertise, offer for sale and sell children's clothing (jackets) under the designation "Vulpes" using the print design, which is a reworking of the plaintiff's work.

In view of the fact that the plaintiff's claim for copyright infringement was not satisfied, Premont Trade LLC was forced to go to court. After clarifying the claim, the court considered the plaintiff's claims against the defendant Rich Family LLC for the recovery of compensation in the amount of 19,060,210.36 rubles and for the recovery of compensation in the amount of 10000.00 rubles from the defendant Wildberries LLC.

According to the law, the processing of an existing work that has a copyright holder is a violation of the exclusive property rights of the copyright holder, if there are reasons to believe that this processing is proven. To substantiate the existence of processing, the plaintiff submitted a specialist's opinion No 900-11.22 dated 11/25/2022, compiled by Forensic Examination, according to the conclusions of which the design of the fabric of the jacket marked with the Vulpes trademark is a derivative work made by processing the design work of Premont Trade LLC, which has an earlier date of creation.

However, the defendant also submitted a specialist's opinion on the results of the study of intellectual property objects, drawn up by the Center for Forensic Examinations and Research "Forensic Expert" LLC. According to the conclusions of the examination, the design of the jacket of Rich Family LLC is not an independent work of intellectual property, as well as the design of the jacket of Premont Trade LLC. At the same time, the specialist considered that it is not a derivative work made by processing the design of the jacket of Premont Trade LLC, since it depicts environmental objects and both prints are not unique.

Taking into account the presence in the case materials of two conclusions containing opposite conclusions, the court appointed a forensic examination, within the framework of which the expert concluded that the design of Rich Family LLC is a revision of the design of Premont Trade LLC. After this examination, an additional examination was also appointed, and subsequently a second examination.  

Having evaluated the explanations of the parties, third parties, expert opinions, expert opinions and explanations of experts in the court session, the court concluded that the fact of processing the plaintiff's work by the defendant was proved.

Under these circumstances, the court recognized the plaintiff's claims against the defendant Rich Family LLC as subject to satisfaction in full. With regard to the plaintiff's claims against the defendant Wildberries LLC, the court considered that it had taken all necessary and sufficient measures to stop the violation, received a response from the seller and sent it to the copyright holder, and after the plaintiff filed a claim with the court, the product card on which the disputed print was placed was deleted. Thus, all the conditions of the information intermediary were met, which is the basis for releasing Wildberries LLC from liability.

As a result, the court decided to satisfy the claim in part and recover compensation in the amount of 19,060,210.36 rubles from Rich Family LLC in favor of Premont Trade LLC. Thus, the legal rights of the plaintiff, whose interests were represented by Zuykov and partners, were protected.