Russia: State media company suing Mail.ru and social network site

Posted by Alisa Zykova on October 23, 2008 at 11:27 PM

State-owned media holding firm All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK) announced it is suing Internet site Mail.ru and online social network Vkontakte for copyright violation, Kommersant.ru reported Thursday.

VGTRK, which owns TV channels like Vesti-24 and Rossiya, wants the two sites to prevent users from including its rights-protected video clips. Mail.ru and Vkontakte responded that they do not have the technical capabilities to control each and every user’s actions or to authenticate a clip’s author.

Chief editor of the Vesti channel, Dmitriy Mednikov, said it is not that serious when users embed short video news stories, but that the situation becomes worrisome once users upload entire programmes, TV shows and films, Kommersant.ru reported.

VGTRK announced that it intends to take legal steps to ensure that no online outlet violates author’s rights. Mednikov said that all video hosting sites that encounter copyrighted VGTRK content must contact the company to verify whether or not they may include it.

Mikhail Gurevich, general director of Mediamir, which owns the Web-based national archive Smotri.com, said Russia currently does not have a legal system to regulate the online video hosting sector. He said he goes by U.S. laws, which dictate that copyrighted content has to be deleted on demand, Kommersant.ru reported.

Mail.ru asks users to agree to a disclaimer prior to registering, meaning that they would carry full responsibility for using copyrighted material. However, Aleksey Musatov, lawyer for Gala Records and EMI, said that that fact does not relieve video hosting sites of responsibilities. For every uploaded clip in violation of authorship laws, a fine amounting to between RUB10,000 (US$370) to RUB5 million ($186,000) can be imposed.

“In Russia, the regional network information centre takes care of registration on domain names. By registering a domain name, its owner agrees to the centre’s conditions. In the agreement it is clearly indicated that a domain’s owner carries responsibility for violating third parties,” Musatov said, according to Kommersant.ru.