Cheburashka

Copyright issues: Expected copyright expiry date added.

← Previous revision Revision as of 12:41, 5 April 2026 Line 98: Line 98: Cheburashka and Gena have their adventures made more difficult by a character named "Старуха Шапокляк" ("Old Lady [[Shapoklyak]]"), a mischievous, yet charming, old lady. Shapoklyak is tall and thin, wears a ''[[chapeau claque]]'' hat and a dark-coloured dress, and carries around a pet rat, Lariska, in her purse to help her play pranks on people, though near the end of some stories she turns around and helps the protagonists. The refrain of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds" {{langx|ru|Хорошими делами прославиться нельзя}}. Cheburashka and Gena have their adventures made more difficult by a character named "Старуха Шапокляк" ("Old Lady [[Shapoklyak]]"), a mischievous, yet charming, old lady. Shapoklyak is tall and thin, wears a ''[[chapeau claque]]'' hat and a dark-coloured dress, and carries around a pet rat, Lariska, in her purse to help her play pranks on people, though near the end of some stories she turns around and helps the protagonists. The refrain of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds" {{langx|ru|Хорошими делами прославиться нельзя}}.

== Copyright issues == == Copyright issues and status == [[File:Cheburashka A.V. Alfeevskiy (illustration) 1965.jpg|thumb|Cheburashka in 1965, in the first edition of the book.]] [[File:Cheburashka A.V. Alfeevskiy (illustration) 1965.jpg|thumb|Cheburashka in 1965, in the first edition of the book.]] The rights to the Cheburashka character and image have been heavily debated in court.<ref>Sheveleva, Aleksandra (13 December 2006). "[https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_6176000/6176377.stm Чебурашку разбирают в суде]" (in Russian). [[BBC News Online]]. Retrieved 2009-12-11.</ref> In 1994, [[Eduard Uspensky]] (the writer) copyrighted the character's name and image and proceeded to sell the rights to various countries. [[Leonid Shvartsman]], the art director of the animated films, has tried to prove in court that he was the creator of Cheburashka's visual appearance and that this copyright should be separate from the rights for the literary character. On 13 March 2007, Shvartsman and his lawyer lost a 4.7 million ruble lawsuit against BRK Cosmetics and Eduard Uspensky. Shvartsman alleged that Uspensky illegally sold the rights to the Cheburashka image (which was allegedly not his to sell) to BRK Cosmetics, which used it on toothpaste packaging. The defence argued that the artist who drew the character for the toothpaste had never seen the animated films and had created the character himself after the impressions left from reading Uspensky's books. Shvartsman argued that the character on the packets was allegedly an exact copy of the one in the animated films.<ref>{{cite news|author=Anufrieva, Anna|date=13 March 2007|url=http://www.dp.ru/msk/news/money/2007/03/13/208133/|script-title=ru:Как заработать на Чебурашке|language=ru|work=Delovoy Peterburg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322054002/http://www.dp.ru/msk/news/money/2007/03/13/208133/|archive-date=22 March 2007}}</ref> The rights to the Cheburashka character and image have been heavily debated in court.<ref>Sheveleva, Aleksandra (13 December 2006). "[https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_6176000/6176377.stm Чебурашку разбирают в суде]" (in Russian). [[BBC News Online]]. Retrieved 2009-12-11.</ref> In 1994, [[Eduard Uspensky]] (the writer) copyrighted the character's name and image and proceeded to sell the rights to various countries. [[Leonid Shvartsman]], the art director of the animated films, has tried to prove in court that he was the creator of Cheburashka's visual appearance and that this copyright should be separate from the rights for the literary character. On 13 March 2007, Shvartsman and his lawyer lost a 4.7 million ruble lawsuit against BRK Cosmetics and Eduard Uspensky. Shvartsman alleged that Uspensky illegally sold the rights to the Cheburashka image (which was allegedly not his to sell) to BRK Cosmetics, which used it on toothpaste packaging. The defence argued that the artist who drew the character for the toothpaste had never seen the animated films and had created the character himself after the impressions left from reading Uspensky's books. Shvartsman argued that the character on the packets was allegedly an exact copy of the one in the animated films.<ref>{{cite news|author=Anufrieva, Anna|date=13 March 2007|url=http://www.dp.ru/msk/news/money/2007/03/13/208133/|script-title=ru:Как заработать на Чебурашке|language=ru|work=Delovoy Peterburg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322054002/http://www.dp.ru/msk/news/money/2007/03/13/208133/|archive-date=22 March 2007}}</ref>
Uspensky died in 2018,<ref name="thr-20180815">{{cite web|last1=Holdsworth|first1=Nick|title=Eduard Uspensky, Creator of Soviet Cartoons, Dies at 80|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eduard-uspensky-dead-creator-soviet-cartoons-was-80-1135285|website=The Hollywood Reporter|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|access-date=5 April 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823023334/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eduard-uspensky-dead-creator-soviet-cartoons-was-80-1135285|archive-date=23 August 2018|location=Los Angeles|language=en-us|date=15 August 2018}}</ref> meaning that the copyright for the Cheburashka character will last until 31 December 2088 (see [[Copyright law of the Russian Federation]]).

== Cheburashka sightings == == Cheburashka sightings ==