Almaty—Global law firm Dentons assisted Kazakhstan’s largest mobile operator, Kcell, in successfully challenging a US$2 million IP claim. The Appellate Board for Civil Cases of the Almaty City Court reversed the decision of the first instance court, thereby dismissing the copyright infringement claim brought by the Kazakhstan Society for the Management of Intellectual Property Rights (KOUPIS) against Kcell and Terraline LLP.

In May 2018, the Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court of Almaty ruled to collect approximately US$2 million from Kcell and Terraline in favor of KOUPIS for copyright infringement. In particular, Kcell was charged that its music channel Muzlife, an Internet TV service for Kcell and Activ subscribers, showed more than 40 clips from the Warner Music catalog for 18 days without the consent of the copyright holder in Kazakhstan, DL Construction LLP.

The Dentons team - headed by Aigoul Kenjebayeva (Managing Partner), Daniyar Toigonbaev (Counsel) and Aliya Seitova (Associate) - Kcell’s in-house lawyers and a team of Kazakh lawyers representing the second respondent Terraline developed a defense strategy, which successfully proved that the claimant’s allegations were unsubstantiated, in particular that:

1. KOUPIS had no right to act as a claimant with independent civil law claims.
2. TV operators were not obliged by law to verify the existence of rights to every clip or program included by a TV channel in its lineup.
3. The claimant failed to provide evidence in support of its allegations or to prove its title to the items of intellectual property.

“It was a very complicated case, primarily from the legal point of view. The danger of the first instance decision was not only in unimaginable financial losses, but also in an unacceptable precedent. So, our joint team did everything it could,” noted Aigoul Kenjebayeva.

According to market observers, this court victory prevented a dangerous precedent, which, given the possibility of filing subsequent claims, could have eventually led to the bankruptcy of TV and mobile operators in Kazakhstan.

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