A recent case in Russia points up some of the challenges of proving authorship in open source contexts. This case was not an enforcement dispute, but it could have implications for such disputes in Russia.
- The holding. The court refused to include “Свободный офис” (Free office in English) owned by BaseALT LLC in a registry of software that is maintained by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
- The court’s reasoning: (1) the owner did not own rights on the core component (Libre Office); (2) Russian localization, dictionaries, electronic signatures integration were not enough to form an independent basis for ownership.
- Why developers include their software in the registry. This registry is different from a copyright registration. A record in the registry enables special tax breaks (which apply to software licensing and IP rights transfers), and supports participation in government contract tenders.
- The outcome is not final. This is a lower court opinion that may be appealed.
- The opinion. The court wrote about copyleft licenses, LibreOffice, the Russian state standard on software documentation, and software modification.
Here is a source in Russian for Case number. А40-139047/2026. This post is based on a summary by Denis Dorotenko, who kindly agreed to allow me to adapt it for this blog. Any errors are mine alone. His writeup in English, with more details, appears here.
