Rovio sued Wildberries over the sale of goods with Angry Birds. Marketplace pleads not guilty

Finnish Rovio accuses Wildberries of copyright infringement due to the sale of various products featuring Angry Birds. The company wants to collect compensation in the amount of 60 thousand rubles. However, the marketplace claims that it is necessary to sue not with the site, but with the sellers.The claim to the Moscow City Court was filed by Rovio on April 23, the Kommersant newspaper reports.

In addition to compensation, the Finnish company demands to block the sale of goods with the image of Angry Birds heroes. Among them are shoe accessories, as well as tea and beer mugs.

Back on April 12, the Moscow City Court ordered Roskomnadzor to remove the links pointed to by Rovio. Access to them was restricted on April 25.

At the same time, Wildberries believes that initially it was worth sending court claims directly to the sellers of these goods. The company stated that the necessary data of legal entities are available on the marketplace for this.

“Sellers independently post content on the site, but in case of violation of the law, confirmation of the copyright holder’s rights to the content, we take appropriate measures — from deleting the content to blocking the seller on the online platform,“ a Wildberries representative said in a comment to RBC.

The situation was commented by Roman Lukyanov, CEO of the law firm Semenov & Pevzner, which represents the interests of Rovio. According to him, Wildberries ignored the first requests for blocking, which were sent a month ago. Lukyanov also notes that losses from the sale of products with Angry Birds on the marketplace can reach up to 80 million rubles a year.

In case of satisfaction of the claim and repeated copyright infringement by Wildberries, Rovio can get the entire marketplace blocked.

In the comments App2Top.ru Lukyanov stressed that the specified amount is only a formality. The precedent itself is important, since no lawsuits have been filed against Wildberries under the blocking procedure before. The main threat to the marketplace here is to get a permanent blocking of the site. Lukyanov emphasizes that Rovio does not pursue such a goal and just wants to fight counterfeiting. Thus, copyright holders will be able to understand that they have the opportunity to block unwanted goods promptly and free of charge through preliminary interim measures in court.

Often, marketplaces are involved in such lawsuits as a third party. In 2019, this happened with Yandex.Marektom”, when Entertainment One UK (the owner of the rights to Peppa pig) filed a lawsuit against the toy manufacturer “Simbat”. As a result, the parties concluded a settlement agreement under which the seller was obliged to pay the British company 20 million rubles.