On 30 November the Coordination Center for ccTLD .RU hosted a workshop “Internet and Legislation”, organized by the RAEK’s Commission on Legal Issues and the Association of Internet-publishers under the CC’s auspices. Mr. Ivan Zasursky, president of the Association of Internet-publishes, moderated the workshop.
The workshop addressed changes in the legislative sphere which are directly associated with the Internet industry. It focused on amendments to the Law “On Communications” and the 4th part of the Civil Code which will regulate providers’ legal and material responsibility for the content posted on the Internet. In particular, the participants discussed issues related to providers’ responsibility for the copyrighted content protected and users’ content. It may well happen that notwithstanding the current business practice, providers will be made obligated to pay royalties to authors.
Leading experts in the Internet law, lawyers, domain names registrars, the CC’s representatives, government officials, representatives from NGOs and from core Internet-companies (Ozon.ru, Rambler, Mail.ru, Google, Yandex, Wikimedia.ru, Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, HeadHunter among others) took part in the workshop.
Mr. Mikhail Yakushev, Chairman of the CC’s Board noted: “It should be borne in mind that various rightholders claim their right for for different objects of legal relations. The authors’ interests differ greatlyy from composers or film directors’ ones. That’s exactly why the issue of copyright protection can’t have a “simple” solution. It is a complex issue and solutions to it must be comprehensive. Moreover, several sectoral groups have already become targets for the rightholders. This has already reached service providers and it would be good to join efforts and look for a solution to this situation.”
Maksim Bobin, member of the CC’s ad-hoc group on legal issues and Vice-President of Mail.ru, added: “Besides, the problem is that the rightholders often are unable to offer users legal and cheap content. This aspect should also be taken into consideration.” Robert Shlegel, MP and member of the State Duma Committee on the Information Policy, emphasized an important aspect of the problem: “Everything the Internet community has so far put in its defense fell on deaf ears. Each message should be a target one. Reach out to internet users. It is much easier a task for you as representatives of the Internet community than for any off-line sectors. There are many examples when a simple petitioning is the most effective way.”
The roundtable participants arrived at the conclusion that it is necessary to implement an in-depth study into economic and legal consequences of various initiated by the rightholders legislative acts for the Internet community and the users. Findings of the study will form a rationale for a safest and efficient economy-wise scenario of legislation development, which will be submitted to the government. It is necessary to work out the consensus regarding copyright protection in the Internet, team up with other organizations concerned, enlist the Internet users and fine-tune self-regulation processes in the sector. “It is highly unlikely that such team building is possible without assistance and support from the CC as a unique, independent self-regulating organization which has emerged as a platform for the dialogue by and between very different companies competing in all other aspects, ,” – summarized Mr. Ivan Zasursky
More news on the subject: http://www.chaskor.ru/article/prezumptsiya_vorovstva_21305
