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Month: March 2016

Digital Contracts for Europe

Main key points (auf Deutsch)

Differences in consumer contract law rules have been identified by stakeholders consulted to prepare the Directives, including businesses and consumer associations, as a significant barrier to cross-border trade. For digital content, there is a clear gap in the EU legislation, while most Member States do not have any specific national legislation. In some Member States, the supply of digital content may be governed by the rules of sales, in others by the rules on services or rentals. As a result, remedies for defective digital content differ. This creates legal uncertainty both for businesses and consumers. Only a few Member States have recently enacted or started to work on specific legislation on contracts for the supply of digital content. This risks causing more legal fragmentation if no action is taken at EU level. For goods, and in particular regarding consumer rights in case a good is defective, there are only minimum EU requirements in place. As a result, in practice there are still different national laws. This situation creates legal uncertainty, imposes additional costs for businesses and affects consumers’ confidence in cross-border shopping.

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Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service proposes compulsory licencing for patent holders

Very soon authority will publish its legislative proposal. Authority proposes to amend the current copyright law in such a way that invention can be used under compulsory licence in accordance with court decision. It is some kind of punishment for abuse of domination in marketplace. If right holders refuse often to produce or supply socially necessary products like drugs, medical goods etc., the state don’t have opportunity to do something about.

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Russian Ministry of Communication has assessed draft law on news aggregators

Russian Ministry of Communication (MinCom) provided Russian State Duma with its negative assessment of draft law on news aggregators. According to this assessment, restriction of news aggregators will decrease auditory of online mass media at least on one fourth. Requirements containing in draft law are impracticable and will cause expenditures from state budget. Draft law in its current version “can cause significant restriction of Russian news aggregators’ activity and in some cases even their shut-down”, believes Alexey Volin, deputy of Russian minister of communication.

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New rules for movies distribution in Russia

Under new rules, adopted by Russian Government, Russian Ministry of Culture (MinCult) has authority to issue, refuse to issue and cancel permission for distribution of movies. Such permission covers 1) distribution of movies in cinema, 2) distribution of movies on physical media and 3) both options and can be received by producer, distributor, demonstrator and licensee, having authority to exploit a movie by way mentioned above, only if such permission has been not issued to person already having exclusive right to exploit a movie. In order to receive such permission person must apply to MinCult.

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Two years of probation for online copyright infringement in Russia

Stepan Entzov, owner of online library “litmir”, has been sentenced for two years of probation by district court in Cheboksary for copyright infringement. In 2011 Stepan has established online library “litmir”. Till the end of 2015 he was the only owner of resource. The statistic of monthly visits was good. Resource was getting popular. But then one more owner has appeared. Who is he it was not stated or disclosed. New owner said his intentions are only fair. But as a fact Roskomnadzor has blocked the site litmir.net.

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Russian Facebook, vKontakte, claims it won case versus Universal Music Russia and Warner Music UK

These cases were considered at closed court session. In case vKontakte v Universal Music Russia the court denied the claim in its entirety. Universal owes 3000 roubles to vKontakte. “The court admitted the vKontakte as fair informational intermediary” – told Evgeny Krasikov to rbc. Universal claimed copyright infringement and requested 15,6 million roubles. Court decision can be appealed in the court on intellectual rights within two months following the day decision was made.

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Towards a modern, more European copyright framework

Digital technologies, widespread broadband connections and reliance on the internet in daily life have transformed the way creative content is produced, distributed and used. The internet has become a key distribution channel. Business models unheard of only 15 years ago and new economic players like online platforms have become well established and today online services are a mainstream channel for consumers to enjoy creative content, alongside physical formats like books and DVDs. Making copies of content digitally is easy and quick. People often expect access to digital content on multiple devices, anytime and anywhere in the single market. When this does not happen, they find it hard to understand why. EU copyright rules need to be adapted so that all market players and citizens can seize the opportunities of this new environment. A more European framework is needed to overcome fragmentation and frictions within a functioning single market. Copyright rewards creativity and investment in creative content. A copyright framework that offers a high level of protection is the basis of the global competitiveness of Europe’s creative industries. Along with the internal market principles of free movement of goods and services, EU competition rules, and our media and cultural policies, copyright is an integral part of the set of rules which govern the circulation of creative content across the EU. The interaction between copyright and these other policy areas determines how value is generated from the production and dissemination of works and how it is shared among market participants.

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Russian ministry of communication dislikes draft law on news aggregators

“With the same success you can equate a news-stall to mass media”, – believe in Russian ministry of communication (MinCom). Mincom does not uphold draft law. “We didn’t see this draft, we did not receive it officially, and we don’t like this idea. We believe, if you carry this to its logical conclusion, with the same success you can equate a news-stall to mass media. We can see covers of newspapers and magazines and can read news headings. Why it is not news aggregator?” – stated Volin. He also mentioned authors of draft law have not consulted with MinCom. Roskomnadzor, subordinate authority to MinCom, is stated in draft law as control authority, but it also has not received draft law and lawmakers have not consulted with it.

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Digital Single Market: The Evidence – copyright

Copyright (official)

Across the EU, as in most world jurisdictions, certain uses of copyright protected works take place on the basis of exemptions and limitations to copyright, which are contemplated in law in response to the inability of the licencing markets to deliver contractual solutions (market failure) or to support public policy objectives. In these cases, a defined group of users does not have to ask for the authorisation of right holders and enter into licencing agreements to carry out certain activities (for example, cultural heritage institutions making copies for preservation purposes). In some cases, exceptions are linked to the existence of licensing schemes, in the sense that if a license agreement is in place, certain exceptions might not apply. Given the current framework in the EU, the existence and scope of exceptions to copyright varies in different Member States. Whilst this can have a little relevance for the DSM in certain cases (e.g. exceptions for broadcasting in hospitals and prisons), differences in the way Member States implement exceptions can be problematic for activities where the cross-border aspects or the European significance of a certain activity is relevant and growing in importance, for instance in the area of education and research (for example a recent study identified 253 cross-border higher education programmes operating in the EU).

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Rutracker.org intends to buy its competitor Rutracker.ru

As reported Izvestia, administration of Rutracker.org wants to buy domain Rutracker.ru. Both parties already confirmed launching of negotiations. For Rutracker.org domain blocking is not so important. It seems it is like romantic for them. “For us it is more important that users can visit phishing sites by mistake” – said representative of Rutracker.org. Rutracker.org is also right holder. Company, operating web-site, Dreamtorrents has registered two trademarks – RuTracker and RuTrackerorg.

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