MOSCOW, May 24 - RAPSI. The Moscow District Federal Commercial Court validated the recovery of $267,826 from Astrel in favor of the Terra publishing company for violating copyright.

Terra sued Astrel, an AST publishing company, for allegedly illegally publishing the novels of the late Russian sci-fi writer Alexander Belyayev. The plaintiff initially claimed 551.5 million rubles ($17.37 million).

Terra filed a lawsuit against Astrel in August 2009, maintaining that it owned the exclusive rights to Belyayev's novels. Astrel, on the other hand, stated that the copyright protection term had expired and that it had published the novels legally.

It was previously reported that the parties had submitted an application to the court confirming an amicable agreement. The court, however, refused to uphold it.
Astrel told RAPSI that the parties intended to enter into an amicable agreement at a later date during the executive proceedings, probably specifying its terms.

This is not the only dispute between Terra and Astrel over publications. In 2010, Terra submitted a lawsuit amounting to an unprecedented 7.5 billion rubles ($236.63 million) against Astrel. In October 2011, the court submitted it for reconsideration. The hearings in the Moscow Commercial Court have been set for June 13.

Founded in 1990, AST is one of the largest publishing companies in Russia. It accounts for 20 percent of the Russian book market, according to its website. AST publishes over 800 new books monthly.