Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

Major labels’ copyright case against Russian social network vKontakte gets go ahead

By | Published on Thursday 14 August 2014

vKontakte

Legal claims from the three major labels against Russian social network vKontakte will be heard by a court in the country next month, it has been announced.

As previously reported, Sony, Universal and Warner all filed separate copyright infringement lawsuits in the Saint Petersburg & Leningrad Region Arbitration Court in April, with Russian music industry trade group NFMI and global record industry reps IFPI both backing the action. vKontakte is accused of ignoring and encouraging the rampant distribution of unlicensed music over its networks.

Although vKontakte has since made some moves towards better protecting copyrighted material being shared on its system, the majors have continued to forge ahead with their claims. At a hearing earlier this week, a judge consolidated the three actions into one, and ruled that the case could go ahead.

Speaking to the BBC, IFPI boss Frances Moore said: “VK hurt competitors because they are not paying anyone for anything – you cannot compete with that”.

The hearing is due to commence on 8 Sep.



READ MORE ABOUT: | | | | |