MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) – A petition to repeal a new anti-piracy law signed by more than 100,000 people was dismissed by the Russian government Monday.
The legislation should be tweaked to prevent abuse, but a repeal would harm copyright holders, a governmental expert group said in a statement, without elaborating on the tweaks required.
Under the anti-piracy law, which came into force in July, film copyright holders who believe their rights have been infringed can seek a court ban on the website sharing their material without first contacting the uploader. The court can then slap a temporary ban on the site as a provisional measure before determining whether any copyrighted material was in fact being shared.
A law introduced in April stipulates that any petition that attracts 100,000 or more signatures must be reviewed by the government. The anti-piracy law petition was the second so far to get the required number of signatures on the state website Roi.ru.
The other was one calling for state agencies to be banned from buying expensive cars. A set of recommendations based on that petition was forwarded by an expert group to the government in September.
