Russia Builds a Digital Infrastructure to Protect Creators’ Rights

Securing Content Rights Early

Animators Aleksandr Bulatov and Ivan Klimentyev created an animated project titled Sheregeshka Yetik and the Mysteries of Mountain Shoria and made an early decision to formalize their intellectual property rights. To protect the project from plagiarism and piracy, the creators deposited the finished animated film, along with the script and character images, in the National Intellectual Property Register. The register operates as a service layer on top of RCIS.RF.

The story centers on a young snow creature named Sheregeshka who helps tourists at a ski resort and confronts a villain known as Rider. The animation was produced using neural networks, allowing the team to avoid the multimillion-ruble budgets typically associated with animated production.

“We came up with the story, characters, and script ourselves. AI helped us bring it all to life without investments of tens or hundreds of millions of rubles,” said Aleksandr Bulatov.

The project was showcased in December at the Creative Kuzbass forum, and the pilot episode premiered on VK. The creators plan to expand the franchise with new episodes, merchandise, games, and social media content for the characters. That roadmap made fast and reliable legal protection a priority.

Faster, Simpler Protection Through Blockchain

A blockchain-based deposition certificate records authorship and the date of creation, helping protect against plagiarism and piracy and serving as legal evidence in disputes or court proceedings. This approach is especially relevant for creative projects, where traditional copyright registration can be slow and expensive.

Previously, n’RIS issued its own deposition certificate, while an official extract from RCIS.RF required a separate account and request process. That workflow has now been streamlined. Information from the RCIS.RF public–state blockchain on the intellectual property object and its rights is combined with the n’RIS deposition certificate into a single document.

“The unified certificate is another step toward creating the most comfortable conditions for accessing complete data on the entire lifecycle of creators’ products on the market. It represents a new level of intellectual property management, all handled remotely through a personal account in n’RIS,” said Natalya Belenkaya, head of the n’RIS project.

The law on creative industries directly links access to state support with the creation and commercialization of intellectual property. Recipients of financial or in-kind assistance must report to the state on spending and on revenue generated from the use of intellectual property. A unified certificate is the best way to prove that funds were not merely spent, but that an intangible asset was created and introduced into economic circulation

Andrey Krichevsky

Chair of the Russian Center for the Circulation of Rights to Creative Outputs (RCIS.RF)

Building Trust in Domestic Blockchain Solutions

Platforms such as RCIS.RF are designed as unified databases for recording intellectual property rights. That design supports not only legal protection but also commercialization of creative assets. Together, these systems strengthen a digital legal infrastructure that is increasingly important for a growing creative and digital economy.

The Kuzbass designers’ case adds credibility to Russian blockchain-based IP solutions. It shows that creators in Russia can record authorship online quickly and at relatively low cost. Depositing an animated film through n’RIS has become a notable example for both the IT and creative sectors, demonstrating how new tools can address longstanding challenges in protecting authorship.

Experts expect broader adoption of digital IP protection platforms. That includes expanded functionality for n’RIS and deeper integrations with other systems, such as the legal databases of Rospatent and commercial IP management tools.