News and publications

$250000 fine for counterfeiting Harry Potter books

A Russian entrepreneur has been fined $250000 for illegally printing copies of the Harry Potter books by British author J.K. Rowling. The rights to publish this series in Russia are held by the Makhaon Publishing House.

The court found that between December 2018 and April 2021, the Kurgan resident organized the production and sale of 43,620 counterfeit copies of the books without permission from the copyright holder.

The businessman was found guilty of illegally using copyrighted materials on a large scale and was sentenced to 2 years of suspended imprisonment with a 2-year probation period. He was also ordered to pay a fine of ₽22,376,000, equivalent to about 258000 US dollars.

The counterfeit books, which were printed in Kurgan and seized in St. Petersburg, were deemed unauthorized copies.

Despite the man’s appeal to overturn the sentence, the court upheld the decision of the suspended imprisonment and the payment of compensation.

pat

Recent Posts

At the end of 2024

At the end of 2024, as the year comes to a close, it is time…

6 дней ago

The benefits of the Eurasian patent system: a single patent for multiple countries

In 1995, the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) was established to create a unified patent space,…

3 недели ago

Patentica at APAA 2024

Olga Gribanova and Eduard Shablin of Patentica were in attendance at the 76th Asian Patent…

4 недели ago

Tracking deadlines is an essential aspect of patent prosecution

Dear colleagues, we would like to inform you about the weekends and holidays in 2025…

1 месяц ago

October 24-26, 2024 | Patentica took part in AIPLA 2024 Annual Meeting

Maria Nilova and Nikolai Kovkov from Patentica recently participated in the AIPLA 2024 Annual Meeting…

2 месяца ago

Patentica participated in the LES USA-Canada Annual Meeting | October 20-23, 2024

Maria Nilova and Nikolai Kovkov from Patentica recently took part in the LES USA-Canada Annual…

2 месяца ago