MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI) – The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has granted a lawsuit filed by the Russian Union of Right Holders and ruled to recover 107.7 million rubles ($1.9 million) from Hewlett-Packard A.O., the Russian subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard corporation, RAPSI learnt in the court.

In November 2017, the Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) overturned a ruling of a lower court granting the lawsuit against the company filed by the plaintiff, and sent the case for another review to a court of appeals.

On December 15, 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court granted a lawsuit filed by the union.

The union, headed by the Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov, was authorized in September 2010 to collect and distribute remuneration for the writers, performers and soundtrack producers and audiovisual products for free reproduction of soundtracks and audiovisual products for private purposes within the territory of the Russian Federation. This also means that producers and importers of copy equipment, including audio and video storage devices, must pay the union 1% of the product’s value.

Previously, the union filed lawsuits against other companies as well. Notably, a court ruled to recover 88.3 million rubles ($1.5 million) from Panasonic Rus, a subsidiary of Panasonic corporation, and 62.6 million rubles ($1.1 million) from a Russian subsidiary of DELL.