Russian Internet Companies Call for Online Liability Regime Clarity

Five of Russia’s largest internet companies have called for an update of its copyright laws, according to the wire news service Agence France Press. “We believe that when the procedures are being observed (to prevent copyright violations) internet services cannot be held responsible for content upl

Five of Russia’s largest internet companies have called for an update of the country’s copyright laws, according to the wire news service Agence France Press.

“We believe that when the procedures are being observed (to prevent  copyright violations) internet services cannot be held responsible for  content uploaded by users,” said the five companies in a recent statement published on  their websites. “In Europe, the United States and other countries the legal question  about restricting the responsibility of the Internet media in these  situations was decided more than 10 years ago.”

The signatory companies are: mail service Mail.Ru, networking site VKontakte and search engines Yandex and Ramble.

Russian copyright holders charge that it’s the responsibility of internet intermediaries to filter content for copyright violations, but the five companies said in their collective statement that they’re not required to by law, nor have they the technical capacity to do so.

Editor’s Note: Don’t miss the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club Event on Tuesday, November 9th, “Approaches by Internet Service Providers Around the World to Copyright Infringement,” for FREE at Clyde’s of Gallery Place in Washington from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Register at http://ipbreakfast.eventbrite.com.