Danone Russia and Soyuzmultfilm have signed an agreement to produce a series of sequels to the popular animated short film Three from Prostokvashino. The terms of cooperation provide that shooting is to start in 2017. Danone Russia will act as the project originator and will use the project to promote Russia’s largest dairy brand, Prostokvashino, on an ongoing basis.

The agreement envisages the release of 30 episodes from 2018 to 2020. Soyuzmultfilm will hold exclusive rights to the new audiovisual works and elements thereof, while Danone will have the right to use new episodes of the animated film to market and advertise its milk and dairy products, as well as certain other related product categories, in the Russian Federation, the CIS countries, Georgia, the EU, the Baltic countries, China, and Mongolia, for the duration of the copyright period.

The IP / ТМТ associates at the Firm’s Moscow and St. Petersburg offices, together with the Firm’s Public Policy and Legislation associates, drafted the relevant agreements and represented Danone in negotiations with Soyuzmultfilm and in discussions related to the project concept, the legal structure of the relationship between the parties, and the specific terms of cooperation.

The project team included Partner Andrey Porfiriev, Head of IP / ТМТ Practice Pavel Sadovsky, and Senior Associates Daria Sergeeva and Pavel Sukholinskiy.