FORTES COMPANY GOES BANKRUPT DUE TO THE MISUSE OF THE ‘AWAITER’ MEME

The Arbitration court of Moscow recognized bankruptcy of the Fortes company insolvent due to a debt of 5 million rubles.  The initiator of the claim was the Ci Land Contact firm, to which the defendant did not pay the compensation set by the court as a sanction for infringement of intellectual property rights.  The firm illegally used the image of the ‘Awaiter’ identical to the trade mark.

Originally posted on the Internet as a popular meme, the Awaiter is reminiscent of a sculpture by a Dutch artist.  The original sculpture, created by Margrit van Brevort, was called Homunculus loxodontus.  And although the popularity of the legless character, who combined the body of a larva, the head of an elephant seal and a man doomedly sitting on a chair, was gradually fading away, the CD Land Contact did not lose time and acquired the rights to it.

The representatives of the Intellectual Capital company, who participated in the registration of the image as a trademark, faced difficulties.

Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property initially refused to register the character, citing a lack of distinctiveness.  As a result, additional evidence and arguments had to be presented.  However, after the certificate had been obtained, the rightholder began to file claims against many persons, claiming the recovery of millions of rubles.

Some arbitration claims were lost by the applicant.  In January 2021, Rusbankrot wrote about the case of Igramir company, which managed to defend its interests in court.  At the end of 2019, the company filed a similar lawsuit against the social network VKontakte, which was accused of violating the rights by using stickers with the image of Awaiter.

In some cases, the participants in the proceedings managed to sign amicable agreements and the company withdrew the claims.

The Fortes company, which was engaged in selling souvenirs (notebooks, bags, T-shirts, etc.) with the image of Awaiter on its website, could not settle the conflict amicably.  On July 16, 2019, the arbitration court found the company guilty of a violation of intellectual property rights and ordered to recover the maximum compensation (5 million rubles).  The company failed to pay the necessary amount, which resulted in a bankruptcy claim.