The most important event for the domestic game dev in recent months has occurred in the related industry. The structures of the oligarch Alexander Mamut launched an attack on a successful IT business, Nginx company.
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For reference: Nginx is one of the most successful Russian IT products. It serves about 450 million sites and is the third most popular web server in the world (if only active sites are taken into account, then the second). In March of this year, the company was sold by the founders of Nginx to the American F5 Networks for $ 670 million.
Officially, the case is being built on behalf of the Rambler holding, where the founder of the web server Igor Sysoev worked as an administrator 15 years ago. Rambler has claimed the exclusive right to use the web server. According to the Internet giant, this right is violated by third parties. They say that any use of the product without the consent of Rambler “is a violation of the exclusive right.”
Considering that Nginx has been distributed under a BSD license since its launch in 2004, this accusation seems like unhealthy babble. Recall that the BSD license makes the product public domain: it is free to use and freely modifiable. If we talk about monetization, then in the case of Nginx, it is based on the services provided by the developer company.
The basis of the case is as follows: allegedly, in 2004, Rambler gave an order to Igor Sysoev (I will note again, at that time — the system administrator of the holding) to develop a web server. According to investigators, he developed it for the company, and then stole it and began to distribute it freely.
However, Sysoev himself said in previous interviews that he was engaged in development in his spare time, there was no contract for the creation of software. His words are confirmed by Igor Ashmanov, the former executive director of Rambler, who hired Sysoev in 2000: he insists that the intellectual property belongs to Sysoev.
When hiring Sysoev, it was specifically stipulated that he has his own project and he has the right to do it (...) I can testify about it in court if necessary. And my partner in AIP and Kribrum, Dmitry Pashko, the then technical director of Rambler, Sysoev's immediate superior, I think, too. Sysoev worked in Rambler as a sysadmin. Software development was not part of his job responsibilities at all.
Prior to the transfer of the case to the court, Nginx offices were searched with seizure. The founders of the company — Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov — were detained and interrogated for a long time. The fact that they were released, but were left without smartphones, became known only last night (Konovalov would later call the situation “an ordinary racket”).
Nginx makes claims not by Rambler itself, but by Lynwood Investments, to which the holding has ceded rights in this. Both Rambler and Lynwood Investments are structures of Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut. The latter, according to Forbes sources, since the purchase of Rambler in 2014, has been looking for evidence that would allow him to take away the rights from Sysoev. Apparently, they were not there until this December.
The attack on Nginx occurred 11 months after the sale of Nginx to Americans and four months after Sberbank acquired 46.5% of Rambler shares.
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What does the game have to do with it?
The affiliation of Mamut with the power structures or its absence is not so important. We are talking about the opportunity to arrange a “mask show” in one of the most successful IT enterprises, wishing to take it away.
Such a story should alert the participants of the domestic gaming market. Now in Russia, the risk of being on the floor with the development team at gunpoint seems more real.
So the question arises: is it worth investing in the development of your own studios in the country? Who can now rule out a scenario in which an influential oligarch, after watching a game from the box office top, decides with the help of law enforcement agencies to become its owner?
During the time when the state and big business did not pay attention to the industry, it has achieved impressive success. There are several dozen companies standing firmly on their feet, whose products are not inferior to the best Western examples. And the main thing that successful market participants want is not to be touched and allowed to work quietly.
But it’s hard to believe in such a development after the attack on Nginx. Especially against the background of the growing interest of the state in the games, which many are wary of. Deputies can try to bring the industry to the negotiating table as much as they want. The dialogue will not work as long as one of the parties is afraid to end up without money, without company and in handcuffs.
The case against Nginx (as well as the reaction of market participants to it) is a very loud signal for the state. It should understand that the industry will be ready to communicate only if it receives guarantees and conditions — including legal ones — for safe business conduct.
For example, so that such Nginx cases could not be qualified as criminal at the start.