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Month: March 2016

Can interview be an original work of authorship?

The fifty-four individual Plaintiffs (the “Lost Boys”) are Southern Sudanese refugees and residents of the state of Georgia fleeing genocidal activity occurring during the Second Sudanese Civil War. As repeated militia raids on Southern Sudanese villages made militia tactics more predictable, the Lost Boys and others were instructed to flee their villages at the first signs of attack. The Lost Boys and others walked for months through the wilderness before reaching refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, experiencing many trials and tribulations, often unique to each Lost Boy. The Lost Boys and thousands of others were granted asylum and residency in the United States, and the Lost Boys settled in and around Atlanta, Georgia. As part of their effort to deliver aid to South Sudan, the Lost Boys created Plaintiff Foundation for Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan, Inc. (the “Foundation”). In 2002, some plaintiffs met Robert “Bobby” Newmyer, a film producer and partner at Defendant Outlaw Productions. When they told Newmyer about some of their experiences prior to arriving in the United States, Newmyer expressed interest in making their stories into a feature film and agreed to travel to Atlanta to meet with them. Newmyer and Outlaw recruited Nagle, a screenwriter, to write the script of a screenplay incorporating “real, personal and emotional details” of the Lost Boys’ stories “otherwise unavailable to the public at large.”

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Deputies from Russian state duma asked prime-minister, minister of internal affairs and attorney general to inspect Russian accredited CMOs

Deputies from Communist party requested prime-minister Dmitry Medvedev, attorney general and minister of internal affairs to inspect accredited Russian collective management societies. Deputies asked to inspect Russian Authors Society (RAO), All-Russian Intellectual Property Organisation (VOIS) and Russian Union of Right holders (RSP), they are concerned about transparency in spending of collected royalties by accredited CMOs. Deputies underlined declining trust degree of authors, performers, producers and other right holders in relation to CMO. “As we can make conclusion, based on information we have, during the management of copyright by RAO, VOIS, RSP, authors, performers, producers and other right holders have not received more than 10 billion roubles.”

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Russian ministry of culture develops some changes to Russian private copying levy system

Russian ministry of culture (MinCult) believes current system of private copying levy is outdated. The text of developed and proposed amendments is not published yet. The target of changes is Russian governmental decree # 829 “About remuneration for free reproduction of phonograms and audiovisual works for private purposes”.

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Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service blames Google for aggressive behaviour in Russia

FAS is glad of courts’ decision on Google case. FAS believes it will have positive impact on competition in Russian IT market. FAS’s chief Igor Artemiev said fine for Google can amount 8% from turnover if there will be no mitigating factors. If Google will go to the court it will lose option to face a minimal fine amounting to 1% from turnover. It seems Google decided to fight. Artemiev hopes on settlement with Google, but in this case Google has to admit its guilt. Actually FAS waits when Google will appeal Moscow commercial court decision.

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Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service established administrative delict committed by Google

Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) established administrative delict committed by Google and conducts administrative investigation. Prior to establish delict FAS considered the case on Google’s anticompetitive behaviour. So, what exactly Russian FAS wants from Google?

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Google tried to challenge Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service’s decision and failed

Google challenged Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) decision and failed. Google Inc. and Google Ireland Limited asked the court to avow FAS’s decision as illegal. During court proceedings Google’s representatives upheld stated requirements and pointed out compliance Google’s business activity in Russia with Russian law about protection of competition. According to them, there was not corpus delicti because assessment of activity has been made under analysis of licencing agreements what is prohibited by part 4 of article 10 of the law about protection of competition. There was not established any indication of Google’s dominating position in Russian Federation. Agreements with manufacturers have been concluded on voluntary basis. There were not established any negative consequences of Google’s activity, caused restriction of competition.

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Google v Yandex anticompetitive battle in Russia

Why Yandex claimed? Producers of smartphones and pads with OS Android, who installed Yandex’s apps and default search service, refused to work with Yandex. Yandex believed Google create conditions to make producers refuse from cooperation with Yandex. Google believed it has not breached law protecting competition. Yandex stated that Google is owner of OS Android necessary for functioning of mobile devices. According to Yandex, Android’s market share in Russia is more than 50% since 2012. Google is also owner of Google Play which allows searching, acquiring, downloading and updating apps on mobile devices with Android OS. Producers of mobile devices have strong interest to install OS Android for marketing purposes. As a result without Google Play you can’t download most of apps. Google also requires installing Google Search by default. Google has developed its system including Google Play and other tools for mobile devices, but Yandex did not do the same in Google’s scale. Yandex suffered damages thanks to Google’s practice.

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Russian Roskomnadzor developed law to block “mirrors” of pirate web-sites

Russian Roskomnadzor along with working group of right holders developed new amendments to law “About information, its protection and informational technologies” and Russian administrative code. Amendments introduce new mechanism for fight with piracy with aim to help right holders. They…

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Russia and 2015 Special 301 Report

Russia remains on the Priority Watch List in 2015 as a result of continued and significant challenges to IPR protection and enforcement, notably in the areas of copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting. In particular, the United States remains concerned over stakeholder reports that IPR enforcement continues to decline overall in 2014, following similar declines in the prior two years, including a reduction in resources for enforcement personnel.

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Russian Internet industry carped draft law for news aggregators

Lawmakers promised to improve draft law. Internet companies forewarn mass media can lose their traffic in a case if proposed amendments become law. For example, Russian internet company Yandex is not able to comply with requirements containing in current version of amendments. If its service “Yandex.News” automatically collects about 100 thousands news from 7 thousands resources, company wouldn’t have enough resources to pre-moderate all news collected.

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