Due to the failure to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which issued the final decision in the case of Lyudmila Ignatenko, whose name was illegally used in the HBO series “Chernobyl”, HBO's trademarks in Ukraine have been seized. This was reported by the law firm Mamunya IP, which is handling Ignatenko's lawsuit.
Public Culture spoke with Lyudmila Ignatenko's lawyer, Oleksandr Mamunia, who shared the details of the case.
What is the essence of the lawsuit?
Lyudmila Ignatenko went to court in April 2020. She noted that the authors of the series “Chernobyl” used her name and the name of her deceased husband Vasyl Ignatenko as the names of the characters. However, Ignatenko did not give consent to the use of the names.
Lyudmila Ignatenko was played in the series by Irish actress Jessie Buckley.
She noted that the creators of the series violated her personal non-property right to use her name and her husband's name. In the lawsuit, Lyudmila Ignatenko indicated that due to the illegal use of her name, her emotional state worsened, and she was also forced to change her place of residence “due to harassment by journalists, friends and colleagues not only of her, but also of her son.”
The woman requested that she be paid UAH 2.5 million in moral compensation, that certain scenes be removed from the series, and that the series be banned from being distributed until then.
The creators of the series denied any violations and assured that the project was of a documentary nature.
“Home Box Office, Inc. did not provide the court with evidence that would indicate that the series contains documentary episodes. The presence of real footage in the series, evidence that would indisputably indicate its documentary nature, has not been established,” the cassation court ruling states.
Supreme Court decision
Before the case reached the Civil Court of Cassation, it was considered by courts of previous instances. Before that, the Kyiv Court of Appeal ordered Lyudmila Ignatenko to pay 144 thousand UAH in moral damages, but rejected the part of the claim where she demanded to remove scenes from the series and stop its distribution.
The Court of Cassation confirmed that the creators of the series violated Lyudmila Ignatenko's rights by using her name without consent. At the same time, the court considered the removal of scenes from the series “not objectively justified and proportionate.”
At the same time, the court increased the amount of compensation for moral damage to UAH 500,000.
What happened after HBO failed to comply with the court order?
As of April 27, 2026, HBO has not complied with the court's decision and has not paid the awarded compensation to Lyudmila Ignatenko.
That is why a private contractor A private enforcer is a subject of independent professional activity, authorized by the state to carry out activities for the forced execution of decisions determined by law and in the manner and procedure established by law. Andriy Avtorgov imposed an arrest on the company's trademarks registered in Ukraine. In case of non-compliance with the court decision, they will be voluntarily put up for sale, and everyone will be able to participate in the auction.
Comment by lawyer Lyudmila Ignatenko
Oleksandr Mamunya, who represents Lyudmila Ignatenko's interests in court, noted that five months have passed since the Supreme Court issued the final verdict, which is not subject to appeal.
After the publication of the court ruling , HBO representatives contacted Mamunia and stated that they respected the Supreme Court's decision and wished to comply with it voluntarily .
However, the compensation never arrived. According to the lawyer, HBO initially noted that the details provided by Ignatenko were questionable and asked to open a new account . HBO representatives noted that the payment could take up to 30 days, but even after this period , the funds did not arrive using the updated details .
In April, Mamunya reminded HBO's lawyers about the compensation, to which he again received a response that the details he provided were suspicious. In his opinion, HBO took such a position because they do not have assets in Ukraine — an office, a representative office — and therefore they are not threatened with confiscation of property. In addition, the longer the decision is postponed, the more the hryvnia devalues, which reduces the amount of compensation.
Ignatenko's lawyers were still able to find HBO's assets in Ukraine in the form of trademarks , that is, intellectual property rights, and decided to seize them. Mamunya is convinced that this will push HBO to take action, because if the trademarks no longer belong to HBO, then at the request of the new owner, the company will have to change the name of the HBO Max channel and remove the HBO designation.
“This is an unacceptable scenario for them,” says lawyer Ignatenko.
About the series
Chernobyl is a five-part British-American miniseries created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Eugen Rank. The project is a co-production between HBO Entertainment and Sky UK, with Sister Pictures, The Mighty Mint, and Word Games.
The events of the plot unfold after the reactor explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, one of the largest man-made disasters in history.
A significant part of the plot of the miniseries is based on the memories of the residents of Pripyat, which are told in the book “Chernobyl Prayer” by the Belarusian-Russian-speaking writer Svetlana Alexievich.
The historical drama premiered on May 6, 2019 on HBO.