MOSCOW, August 1 (Itar-Tass) - Measures for the protection of intellectual property rights on the Internet are provided by the law on combating web piracy that is coming into force in Russia on Thursday. At this stage, it affects only video, film and television products. During the autumn session the State Duma lower house of parliament intends to include in the document penalties for illegal distribution of online music, games and software.
The law provides for pre-trial blocking of the Internet pages, which supposedly housed illegal content. The right holder, having found online movie or video, posted without his permission, may turn to the Moscow City Court with an application to restrict access to these products. The Moscow City Court in this case has the right to take security measures to block the website, and the right holder shall within 15 days to send the official claim to the court.
Based on the court decision, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) is to determine within three days the hosting provider and send it a notice with the demand to remove the illegal materials. On receipt of the notification, the provider is given one workday to notify of the Roskomnadzor decision the website owner that must remove the information within a day. In the event of refusal of the site owner to do so or failure to act accordingly the hosting provider is to restrict access to the resource within three days since the receipt of the notification.
“The preparation for the entry into force of the Federal Law No 187-FZ has been carried out in full,” the Roskomnadzor press service told Itar-Tass. In particular, electronic interaction has been established with the Moscow City Court. Information on court decisions will be coming to Roskomnadzor as quickly as possible. “Roskomnadzor has determined the officials responsible for this sphere of ·· activity,” the source added.
The special website NAP.RKN.GOV.RU will be opened on the Internet on Thursday. The right holders will be able through the website to send applications to restrict access to certain resources. “Informing Roscomnadzor about pirated content, the right holder shall attach the court decision on security measures. Thanks to the electronic communications channel set up by the Moscow City Court the checks regarding the existence of such court decision will take the minimal time,” Roskomnadzor stressed.
Roscomnadzor has agreed with the right holders that when turning to court they should specify the full address of the resource with pirated movies, “so that the blocking could be most targeted and in order to avoid harming the respectable Internet resources that use on the same IP-address.”
The Internet industry has opposed the adopted version of the “anti-piracy” law, for fear of abuse and blocking of respectable websites. The Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) has developed a special website - RuTakedown, devoted to the monitoring of the application of the law. Using the resource the website owners, in particular, will be able to complain about unlawful blocking. In addition, the site will have the information and educational section and the database of blocked sites.
Roskcomnadzor, right holders, the major Internet sites and communications operators a week before the law came into force signed a communiqu·, which reflects the interaction between all the parties within the framework of the implementation of the “anti-piracy” law. The document was signed by representatives of the National Media Group, Art Pictures Studio, Central Partnership, TV Channel One, RTR, Karo Premiere, "Star MEDIA GROUP, the RuTube video service, the Rostelecom, VimpelCom, MegaFon, MTS, TTK operators and others.