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07 July 2022 16:03
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Domestic companies began to apply to the court with a demand to return their money for foreign software, the vendors of which stopped providing their products and services in Russia due to the imposed sanctions. Distributors refuse to refund funds because the product or service was provided by them. Do not return the amount paid and foreign vendors.
Get money back for software
As CNews found out, Russian companies began to sue distributors demanding a refund for foreign software. This applies to those foreign solutions for which technical support is not provided or licenses for which do not work in Russia due to sanctions.
“We found ourselves in a situation where a number of clients sent claims demanding money back for non-working technical support and licenses, and neither the copyright holder nor the distributor returns the money,” a representative of the foreign software supplier Softwaren told CNews. — We got into a situation between a distributor and a client, when the first evades the return of funds, and the latter requires them».
To date, the total amount of lawsuits known to CNews in the context of the described situation has reached 594.1 million rubles.
Position of the Ministry of Digital Development
At the beginning of March 2022 due to delays in the delivery of foreign equipment and software of the Ministry of Digital Development asked customers not to sue integrators.
“Despite repeated calls Mintsifry don’t be extreme in this situation distributorswe received several requests from our counterparties for a refund,” the director of the department told CNews.Serversstorage and software” of the company “Marvel» Dmitry Nikitov.
“At the same time, of course, we are counting on a legislative settlement of this Persian-major,” Nikitov continues, “In our opinion, this would give the entire market a very positive signal and help relieve the tension that has arisen.”
CNews expects comments from representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development regarding this issue.
Who is being sued and how much?
One of the largest claims, the amount of which amounted to 204 million rubles, was filed by Software once morest the Merlion distributor. Third parties that do not declare independent claims regarding the subject of the dispute in this lawsuit were Kaspersky Lab and Vympel Communications (brand “Beeline»).
“Softwareuan” acquired from “Merlion» PO VMWare and technical support valid for one year. However, since the beginning of March 2022, the copyright holder of foreign software has stopped providing technical support and providing access to the product for end users due to the imposed sanctions. Softwareware turned to Merlion with a demand to return the money, but the company refused, citing the fact that the service is actually provided by the software copyright holder, the plaintiff noted.
“According to the distributor, his area of responsibility is limited to the transfer of goods and the distributor is no longer responsible for anything,” Softwaren notes. — We were forced to apply directly to the copyright holder, to which we also received an answer that due to the imposed sanctions, he was forced to terminate the licenses and technical support. The issue of a refund was ignored in this answer from the copyright holder.
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AT “Kaspersky Labsconfirmed this information. “We believe that this judicial a business will form the basis for the formation of judicial and law enforcement practice related to disputes over the sale of foreign software on the Russian market, since it is typical for the current economic situation,” Kaspersky Lab representatives told CNews.
Merlion and Beeline declined to comment.
In addition to Softwareuan, in June 2022, Merlion was sued by the company “I-teco“. The amount of the claim amounted to 368.5 million rubles. Also in June, the court with a lawsuit for 1.1 million rubles. to “Marvel” addressed “Telecom XXI century” (“Rostelecom» attracted as a third party), with a claim for 2 million rubles. – the company “Effective Technologies” and with a claim for 18.4 million rubles. – Inventum company.
CNews also found an example of how to the customer managed to return the funds directly through the copyright holder. “Our situation is: vendor (USA) refused to provide further services on an already paid subscription,” the CEO of the company told CNews EMDEV Alexei Kakunin. “We agreed with the vendor on a refund for services not rendered (we are talking regarding $35,000), and the vendor transferred the money to us.”
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At the same time, Kakunin outlined a new problem – now it is not clear at what rate to recalculate the refundable funds: the contract was in foreign currency, but with payment in rubles at the exchange rate on the day of payment; There were no refund options in the contract. “In general, we, as an intermediary, will lose some money on this story, now the only question is how much,” he notes.
Lawyers’ opinion
“The most direct way to return money for a product or service that the user does not receive is to file a lawsuit once morest your counterparty under the contract,” the head of CNews told legal by Axis Pravo Alexey Sulin.
In addition to litigation with direct supplier it is also possible to initiate a dispute with the vendor, but such claims are complicated both in the legal sense and in terms of actually receiving money, even if the court decision is positive, he notes.
“Another question is how to execute such a court decision,” he stressed. Pavel Katkovowner of the business school Katkov.School and member Russian Bar Association. “Because in the conditions of the departure of vendors and in the absence of accounts and property in Russia, this will not be easy.”
Kristina Holupova
