The publisher Amphora, which released books for the film Admiral, accuses Eksmo of copying the cover design and fears losses because of the similar layout. The conflict has already reached the Moscow police, and at the center of the dispute are rights to the design, print runs, and commercial success of editions related to Alexander Kolchak's story.

The publishing house "Amfora", which released a book about Alexander Kolchak to coincide with the theatrical release of the film "Admiral", is facing losses because of a competitor’s actions. The company "Eksmo" published a book with a similar design.
The film "Admiral" has been released in Russian cinemas. The premiere was preceded by a major advertising campaign. Part of it was the publication of the eponymous novel written based on the film’s screenplay, an encyclopedia with stills from the film, as well as the release of an audiobook. The rights to publish the books were obtained by the St. Petersburg publishing house "Amfora".
At the same time, the publishing house "Eksmo" put on sale the book "Admiral. The Fate and Love of Alexander Kolchak". "They used the composition of our cover for their book cover," says Amfora CEO Oleg Sedov. "They even reproduced the rivets on the letters, which are separately protected as a design element." He fears that those who want to buy the book based on the film will mistakenly purchase Eksmo’s book, which has nothing to do with the film.
The director for public and corporate relations at Eksmo, Maria Ishkova, emphasizes that stills from the film "Admiral" were not used on the cover of their book. The portraits of the characters were drawn from real photographs of Alexander Kolchak and his wife. "We are surprised by a situation in which the party that considers itself wronged - a serious and respected publishing house for us - instead of openly stating its claims to us, is engaging in activities to mislead partners and the media," she said.
Patent attorney Vadim Uskov (he represents Amfora’s interests) says that a claim was sent to Eksmo, but no response was received. This was followed by an appeal to the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate to initiate a criminal case against Eksmo CEO Oleg Novikov. If, after the investigation, the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate recognizes him as an infringer of copyright, he faces up to six years in prison or a fine of 500,000 rubles.
For the right to publish the book in a print run of 100,000 copies, Amfora must pay the film’s rights holder, the company "Kino Directorate", 20 rubles for each copy sold. The total cost of the acquired rights is 2 million rubles. About 70% of that is the cost of the film poster used in designing the novel’s cover.
According to Amfora, 70,000 copies of the novel, 5,000 encyclopedias, and 2,000 audiobooks have already been sold.