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Open Government against cancelling ‘antipiracy law’

Working Group proceeded from the assumption that more than 90% of audiovisual works on the Internet are used illegally

MOSCOW, October 28 (Itar-Tass) - The Expert Working Group of the Open Government considers it inexpedient to cancel the “anti-piracy law,” according to the materials posted on the website of the Open Government on Monday.

Making this decision, the Working Group proceeded from the assumption that more than 90 percent of audiovisual works on the Internet are used illegally. This inflicts damage on the rights holders. Because of this situation Russia “is regarded internationally as a country with a very high level of ‘piracy’ in the Internet, which evokes valid claims from foreign states and international organisations,” says the conclusion of the Working Group.

Cancelation of the ‘antipiracy law’ would mean a violation of international obligations by Russia, making less effective the legal protection of copyright holders against the violation of intellectual property rights, as well as the lack of sufficient data on law enforcement practice, according to the documents.

The expert discussion was held after a petition to abolish the “antipiracy law” gathered more than 100 thousand votes on the “Russian Public Initiative” website. The initiators of the law abolition believe that the law allows the blocking of legal Internet resources, leaving room for abuse.

The Working Group, chaired by the Minister for Relations with the Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov, recommended to the State Duma lower house of parliament to take into account the comments in the petition, when improving the legislation in the sphere of copyright protection on the Internet, to hold at the Public Chamber public hearings on improving the regulatory devices in this sphere.

The law provides for extrajudicial blocking of an Internet page, which allegedly hosted illegal content. The copyright holder, having found an online movie or video, posted without his permission, may turn to court with an application to restrict access to this content. The court may adopt interim measures to block the website, and the right holder shall, within 15 days, submit an official claim to court. Based on a court decision, the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) shall, within three days, determine the hosting provider and send it a notice demanding to remove the illegal materials. The provider is given one working day to notify the website owner of the Roskomnadzor order, and the website owner is required to remove the information within a day. If the website owner refuses or fails to act accordingly, the hosting provider shall restrict access to the Internet resource within three days of the notification receipt.