Russian font sales

Ray Larabie

Lately I've received more requests than usual from Russian design agencies seeking to purchase font licenses. They usually explain that they're unable to go through US retailers such as Fonts.com, MyFonts and Fontspring and/or they can't use credit cards to make purchases. They also claim that a EULA isn't sufficient and a signed contract is required. Proof of incorporation is often requested. Sometimes they complain that the certificate is all in Japanese and I explain that it's a Japanese corporation and in official Japanese business, English doesn't exist. I don't know if they can't deal with the usual distributors because of US/Russia sanctions. My accountant says there's nothing in Japan/Russian sanction rules that would be a problem for me. I have no idea why a EULA won't work in Russia. Outside of Russia only two companies I'm aware of are unable to accept a EULA: ABC Studios and IFC. But in Russia, it seems like all companies require a signed contract to use a font. Some clients require outlandish amounts of paperwork. I've attached a list of requirements I received recently. Keep in mind that this is for a US $40.00 font sale. Question is: can anyone recommend a font retailer inside Russia that I can sign up with to avoid this sort of thing in the future? I prefer my passive income a bit more on the passive side.

1) Tax residence certificate (reflecting the place of tax residence of the company);

2) Certificate of Incorporation;

3) Good standing certificate (the statement of the actual legal status and the good financial condition);

4) The extract from the official Register of the Companies (including the data about the date of incorporation, registered address, directors of the company);

5) Charter + Memorandum of Association) (or other constitutive documents of the Company including the data about the authorities of the main corporate bodies);

6) Shareholders certificate (reflection of the shareholding structure of the company);

7) No-winding-up certificate (the confirmation that the liquidation or insolvency procedures were not initiated by or against the Company);

8) Resolution of the board of directors of the Company approving the terms of the transactions contemplated, resolving that the Company enter into this agreement and authorizing the director to sign the agreement.

9) A copy of the passport of the authorized signatory (ies);

10) Company assurance that the Company as a contractor upon the planned transaction (SPA of the ride) is a final receiver of the profits and has the full authorities to manage these profits + apostille (if applicable).

11) Structure of the group of company;

12) Conformation that company has not representative office in Russia;

13) Any supporting documents confirming or disproving:

∙ Independence of decision making by directors of foreign companies;

∙ The existence of authority to dispose of income;

∙ Implementation of business functions;

∙ Signs of doing business (staff, office, general business expenses);

∙ obtaining economic benefits from income (the use of income received in business);

∙ bearing commercial risks in relation to assets;

∙ Nature of cash flows, i.e. the presence or absence of legal and actual obligations for the further transfer of income;

∙ Systematic transit payments to transfer income on behalf of a resident of a country that is a party to an agreement to a person who does not have benefits under the relevant international tax agreement;

14) A free-form letter confirming the foreign organization’s lack of contractual or other legal obligations to third parties and restrictions on its rights when using the revenues received from the Russian organization and whether the foreign organization has the right to use and dispose of these incomes independently (or vice versa about the existence of obligations to third parties limiting the rights of self income use, etc.);

15) IFRS Accounting Statements with Auditor's Report.
Please note that all the documents required to be presented in originals endorsed with apostilles.

I had to look up what an apostille is.

Andreas Stötzner

is that a joke?

Ray Larabie

is that a joke?

No. That's the real thing. Someone actually requested required that info for a $40 font sale.

James Puckett

If someone asked me for all that I would assume it’s a phishing expedition.

André G. Isaak

Ditto what James said. I sure the hell wouldn't give anyone a copy of my passport unless I were applying for a visa.

Did they mention anything about needing your assistance in facilitating the transfer of 5 million quatloos from a Nigerian bank belonging to one of their poor deceased relatives?

Nick Cooke

I think I’d be prepared to lose that sale. 

Igor Freiberger

Ray, I think it would be fair to ask some documents from the client-to-be:

1. Complete identification.
2. Proof of a valid residence address.
3. Genealogical tree with at least five generations.
4. Proof of living, like a photo with today's newspaper. 
5. Complete set of fingerprints.
6. DNA map identifying possible diseases.
7. Certified English language knowledge, like TOEFL.
8. Their chess rating with printings of recent games.
9. Mock-ups of all font usage they plan to do.
   
10. Additional fee of $400 to allow you to provide the docs they requested.

:-)

Mark Simonson

If you want to have a Russian distributor, I would suggest Paratype. They are not a big distributor for me, but do a decent amount of business and provide an option for the occasional Russian customer who prefers to deal with a Russian distributor (I do get such requests once in a while).

Thomas Phinney

I would also recommend Paratype for this purpose.

jakob_runge

Type.today can help as well

Yury Yarmola

In Russia you may need to proof that you own a license to software and it should come in form that is believable to Russian authorities. Since it comes from outside, there are also "import" issues which I would not recommend to get into. 

I think that one of the reasons of high SW piracy here is this problem with "legal licensing" which is regulated by people who have no idea how it works.

So I would recommend to have a help from some company which has 1) strong presence in Russia 2) good outside experience and preferably an office abroad 3) experience with licenses and 4) legal department (in Russia)

Paratype (www.paratype.com) would be my first recommendation.