Russia’s New Anti-Piracy Law to Enter into Force August 1

As we reported last month, Russia has recently adopted the new anti-piracy law, which allows copyright holders to have websites or webpages blocked if they offer infringing content.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the new law on July 2 and it enters into force on August 1.

The law currently applies to video content only, i.e. movies and television series.

According to the new law, if the copyright holder detects infringing material on the Internet, he can apply to the Moscow City Court for an injunction against the website owner. All court injunctions will be published on the official website of the Moscow City Court.

To further sustain his actions, the copyright holder has to file a lawsuit within 15 days from the date of the court injunction. Otherwise the copyright holder’s complaint will be annulled and the Interner provider may file a counterclaim and require compensation for damages.

The responsibility to execute the court injunction lies with the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Communications — Roskomnadzor, which is to identify the Internet provider and officially notify him in both Russian and English within three working days.

The Internet provider has only one day to contact the client offering the pirated content and request removal of the content or limited access to the content. If the Internet provider does not react timely and properly and the infringing content remains available, the website will be blocked and may be blacklisted.

According to the law, the content should be removed even before obtaining a formal court ruling on whether it was distributed illegally. However, in case the court finds the law has not been broken, the access to the content must be reopened.

The full text of the law in Russian is available on Russian Duma’s website.

By: Tetiana Shulga

For more information, please contact Tetiana Shulga at our Ukraine office.