Court Dismisses Russian Railways' Copyright Suit Against Apple

On Tuesday, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals rejected an appeal filed by Russian Railways challenging the dismissal of the copyright lawsuit against Apple Inc.  Russian Railways initially sought 2 million rubles ($55,807) in compensation from Apple for unauthorized use of the Railway's logo in an application sold at the Apple App Store, but that lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by Moscow's Commercial Court.  After the lawsuit was filed, Apple deleted the program from its store, but the app later resurfaced without the contested logo. The program calculates the cost of transporting goods with Russian Railways, and is being sold for 199 rubles.  Apple argued that it should not be held responsible for infringement, as the agreement between Apple and its app developers states that the developers are obligated to secure the use of third party copyrights.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_information/20140506/271265339.html

Russian State TV Journalist Plagiarizes Nationalist Website

A reporter for Russia’s leading television channel admitted lifting huge chunks of a nationalist report about the Sochi Olympics’ opening ceremony for use in her own report, which aired over the weekend. Irada Zeinalova said she quoted a report by Kremlin-bashing web resource Sputnik & Pogrom without attribution for a broadcast on Channel One. The report “found such true and subtle words about the Olympics that you could wish for nothing better,” Zeinalova said in a Facebook post that later was deleted. She apologized for unattributed quoting and said she “faced the music” with channel management, which has not commented publicly about the scandal. Sputnik & Pogrom’s report, published Saturday, praised the ceremony for a pro-Western slant and avoidance of rampant conservatism that is at the core of the Kremlin’s current domestic policy. Both the website and the presenter touted the event, in particular, for presenting “aristocratic Russians” to the world, as opposed to kitschy stereotypes about balalaikas and “aggressive drunken soldiers.” Sputnik & Pogrom directly accused Channel One of plagiarism on Monday, but said no legal action was planned because the channel de-facto helped spread their ideas.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140211/187397607/Russian-State-TV-Journalist-Plagiarizes-Nationalist-Website.html

Russian Communists Seek to Revoke "Anti-Piracy Law"

Ivan Melnikov and Oleg Smolin, State Duma lawmakers for the Russian Communist Party, have submitted a bill seeking to revoke the freshly enacted anti-piracy law, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday. The anti-piracy bill was passed by the Duma, Russia's lower parliamentary house, on June 21 and approved by the Federation Council, the upper house, on June 26. It was then signed into law and took effect on August 1 despite outcries from the Internet industry. The companies that oppose the law claim that it has numerous loopholes that would allow for abuse and unfair competition. The law allows copyright holders to request the court to block contested content before ruling on its legality, without requiring them to try to contact the up-loader before going to court. Issues of injunction and punishment are handled exclusively by the Moscow City Court, which is expected to accept complaints around the clock, including online.

http://www.rapsinews.com/legislation_news/20130828/268691332.html

Russia's Anti-Internet Piracy Law Faces Backlash

President Putin signed the anti-piracy bill into law last month. It is championed by some as a new weapon to defend content-makers and decried by others as a blunt tool that could extend censorship of the net. One thing's for sure - Russia's new anti-piracy law is proving controversial. The law allows copyright holders to request the court to block contested content before ruling on its legality without requiring them to try to contact the uploader before going to court. "Access to online content should be free and global because it is people's right to freely receive and distribute information, as well as it is their right to consume art," says Natalia Malysheva, of the Russian Pirate Party. On Sunday, the party held a protest in central Moscow against the law, now in force, which allows sites to be blocked if they do not tackle complaints that they are aiding copyright infringement within three days of being notified. About 300 people, who were waving black pirate flags, attended the peaceful event.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23510065
http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_information/20130802/268424650.html

YouTube Blocks Russian Foreign Ministry Channel

YouTube shut down the account of the Russian Foreign Ministry and posted a notice, "YouTube account 'midrftube' has been terminated because we received multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants including Krasnyi Kvadrat and All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company RTR."  The Ministry called this a "technical mistake" and said the account will be active again soon.

http://lenta.ru/news/2013/06/14/mid/
https://www.youtube.com/midrftube (channel)

Readers of Pirated Books Not To Be Prosecuted in Russia

Readers downloading pirated copies of e-books will not be liable for prosecution, according to Vladimir Grigoryev, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. "We have no intention to hold end users liable as is done in the U.S., for instance, where users downloading copyrighted material can end up in court. Responsibility will be on the owners of pirate websites while readers will be issued warnings," Grigoryev said. Piracy is a growing threat to the publishing industry. Combating piracy will initially require a series of precedents, the official said. Currently, 90% of books are downloaded illegally in Russia, which has resulted in the industry losing up to 4 billion rubles a year.

http://www.rapsinews.com/news/20130404/266922323.html

Russian Record Company Demands $131,000 over Song Copyright

SBA Music Publishing has filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Commercial Court against Rostelecom and NTV to recover 4 million rubles ($131,485) in compensation for the illegal use of Blur's "Song 2" in an advertisement, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Wednesday. SBA Music Publishing is part of Gala Records holding. SBA Music Publishing has asked the court to force Rostelecom to publish the text of the ruling passed by the court, citing the real holder of the rights to the song. The plaintiff also seeks 3.5 million rubles ($115,100) from Rostelecom and 500,000 rubles ($16,435) from NTV. SBA Music Publishing told RAPSI that the company holds the rights to the group's song in the CIS. Earlier, Rostelecom used the song in an advertisement for its zabava.ru portal. Before filing the lawsuit, SBA Music Publishing held talks with Rostelecom to settle the dispute, but the two sides failed to resolve the issue. SBA Music Publishing has also stated that the lawsuit against NTV was filed because the advertisement was also shown on that company's television channel. Gala Records is the first privately owned music recording company in Russia, according to its website. It was established in 1988 and has also worked in musical publishing. Rostelecom is Russia's largest telecommunication provider. The state is its main shareholder, owning 53.23 percent of the company's shares. Konstantin Malofeyev's Marshall Capital foundation is its largest minority shareholder, with a 10 percent stake.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130110/266017774.html

Anonymous Attack Ukrainian Government over Demonoid Shutdown

Members of the Anonymous hacktivist community have attacked websites belonging to the Ukrainian authorities after Demonoid was forced offline. The BitTorrent link tracker's internet service provider (ISP) took it offline after being contacted by law enforcement officers. The US had previously alleged Demonoid was one of the most visited sites used to share pirated content. Many of its visitors are now concerned their activities may be exposed. It has emerged that officers at Ukraine's Division of Economic Crimes acted after being contacted by Interpol. Members of Anonymous subsequently announced plans to attack "those responsible for the interruption." The webpages belonging to the Ukrainian Anti-Piracy Association, the Ukrainian Agency for Copyright and Related Rights, and the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine all became unavailable for a time.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19194467
http://www.lenta.ru/articles/2012/08/09/demonoid/

Russian Supreme Court: No Royalty Payable for Performing Public Domain Music

The Russian Supreme Court has ruled that philharmonic societies are not obliged to pay royalties for performing public domain music. The complaint filed by the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society has been satisfied and the relevant provisions of an executive government order have been invalidated. Until that, philharmonic societies had to pay royalties (10% of the revenue) to the Russian Copyright Society for performing in mixed concerts any music, including classics by, e.g., Mozart or Bach. Now they may prorate the royalties in accordance to the proportion of copyrighted and public domain works in the concert.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120618/263483541.html

http://izvestia.ru/news/527747

Russian Web Search Engine Sued in U.S.

A controlling stockholder of Yandex, Russia's biggest Internet search engine, has filed a petition with the United States District Court for the Northern Districtof California to dismiss a lawsuit claiming Yandex's breach of intellectual property rights. Perfect 10, an American erotic photo publisher, and the owner of an adult site, filed a suit against Yandex in late March for the violation of copyright law. Perfect 10 maintains that registered Yandex N.V. domain names yandex.com, yandex.ru, yandex.st, yandex.net publish pictures belonging to Perfect 10's core business. The defendant seeks to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the U.S. Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Yandex.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120516/263161941.html

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry Admits Copyright Infringement

The Ukrainian Ministry of Interior’s spokesman Vlolodymyr Polishchuk confessed that the computer software used by the Ministry is largely pirated. “Approximately 47% of the software in the Ministry is not properly licensed. However, the Ministry has informed Microsoft. Now the company is carrying on negotiations with the state bodies on how to legalize the software,” Polishchuk stated. The official added that the Ministry has not purchased computers with pre-installed pirated software since 2006.

http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2012/02/1/6945809/

Ukraine Shuts Down Largest File Sharing Website

Ukrainian police shut down the country's most popular file sharing website, Ex.ua, accusing its owners of illegally distributing copyright-protected software, music and videos. The move was a result of complaints by software companies such as Microsoft and Adobe, police said. "During a search at the website (owners') office and data centers, police confiscated numerous computers... including 200 servers containing about 6,000 terabytes of information in total," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. "Police have found out that the website was run by a citizen of Latvia." Under Ukrainian laws, the website's owners could face up to five years in prison if found guilty, it said. Ex.ua's users numbered in the millions, according to police.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/us-ukraine-website-idUSTRE80U1IR20120131

Kalashnikov Accuses Communists of Improper Use of his Image

Famous Russian arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, 92, accused the Russian Communist Party of illegal use of his image in the electoral campaign. In the Samara Region, the communists displayed billboard posters of local State Duma communist candidate, named Leonid Kalashnikov, posing together with Mikhail Kalashnikov, and, in addition, a separate photo of Mikhail Kalashnikov holding his famous machine gun. The posters say: “Kalashnikov: The Choice of Millions” and “Vote for Kalashnikov!” It appears that Mikhail Kalashnikov indeed met Leonid Kalashnikov, but he did not agree that the communists could use his photo in their campaign. The arms designer, who is one of the founders of the ruling “United Russia” party, filed complaints to the Prosecutor Office and to the Central Electoral Commission.

http://www.mk.ru/daily/newspaper/article/2011/11/21/645244-kalashnikov-protiv-kalashnikova.html
http://www.newsru.com/russia/22nov2011/kalashnikov.html
http://www.pravda.ru/politics/parties/cprf/22-11-2011/1099465-kalashnikpv-0/ (poster)

Anna Chapman Accused of Plagiarism

Russian journalists and bloggers accused ex-spy Anna Chapman of plagiarism when it was discovered that her column devoted to poet Alexander Pushkin and published by major Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda is almost entirely copied from former Presidential Administration official Oleg Matveychev’s book “Sovereignty of Spirit.” After her arrest in the US and deportation as a part of a prisoner swap in 2010, Anna Chapman has been attempting to start a career as a journalist and politician in Russia, with apparent assistance from governmental bodies.

http://www.lenta.ru/news/2011/10/31/chapman/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Chapman (photo)

Ukrainian President Accused of Plagiarism

Upon the publication of “Opportunity Ukraine,” a new book by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich, journalists discovered that it contains numerous fragments borrowed verbatim from other people’s works, mostly from articles published by Ukrainian media. In particular, Vitaly Sych, the Editor-in-Chief of the Korrespondent journal, points out in his blog that Yanukovich has copied (without citation) whole paragraphs from a Korrespondent article about reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore, which Sych himself co-authored. Yanukovich’s spokesperson, Anna German, called the plagiarism accusations a “provocation,” suggesting that the disputable fragments might have been in fact copied by their alleged authors from some other (unspecified) earlier works of Yanukovich.

http://www.lenta.ru/articles/2011/09/08/president/
http://lenta.ru/news/2011/09/07/confirm/
http://blogs.korrespondent.net/journalists/blog/vitaliysych/a43803

Russian TV Company Loses Copyright Infringement Suit against Social Network

Russia's Supreme Arbitrazh (Economic) Court refused to reconsider the decision of a lower court dismissing the claim of the major TV company VGTRK against the biggest Russian social network VKontakte. The claim was related to digital copies of a film uploaded to the social network site by its users. The TV company argued that the social network is obliged to take general measures to prevent such infringing uploads for which the network has all necessary technical facilities. The social network argued it is only obliged to remove the infringing content upon receiving a specific request from the copyright owner stating the address where the content is located. VKontakte won the case that may now become precedential for Russia.

http://www.infosud.ru/arbitration/20110311/252015187.html

Russia Authorizes Organization to Collect Copyright Duties

Rosokhrankultura, the Russian agency responsible for accrediting IP rights management organizations, authorized the Russian Union of Rights Holders (RSP), an organization headed by prominent film director Nikita Mikhalkov, to collect a special levy on manufacturers and importers of recording equipment and blank recordable media. The levy will apparently apply to CD and DVD recorders, computers, and most mobile phones and cameras, as well as recordable disks, hard disks, flash cards, etc. The levy is expected to be about 1% of the value of applicable goods and will likely generate revenue of about $100 mln. The revenue is supposed to be distributed among writers, performers, and producers of music and film, however the law does not specify exactly to whom the proceeds should be distributed and in what proportions. The distribution may be inconsequential, though, as critics say that the bulk of the funds will likely be consumed by the RSP itself. Indeed, the RSP has suggested that it would only distribute 15% of the collected funds to the IP owners with the rest to be accumulated or spent by the RSP.

http://lenta.ru/news/2010/10/26/permission/

Microsoft to Grant Free Licenses to Russian NGO's

Microsoft announced that it will introduce a new type of the software license that should allow NGO's in Russia and certain other countries to legally use Microsoft products free of charge. The move followed an article in The New York Times saying Russian authorities use copyright law as a tool for suppressing dissent. According to the article, the Russian police often raid “undesirable” NGO's and confiscate their computers under the pretext of searching for pirated Microsoft software.

http://lenta.ru/articles/2010/09/14/microsoft/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/world/europe/12raids.html
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/09/13/anti-piracy-enforcement-and-ngos.aspx