Film producers ready to take Yandex and Google to court over piracy

[Len]

Yandex earlier said that Yandex search systems work in full compliance with the current legislation

Russian filmmakers are considering taking Google and Yandex to court over millions of piracy claims, the industry representatives are unhappy that pirated movie versions surface in search results, said Alexander Akopov, co-chairman of the Board of the Association of Film and Television Producers, a member of the Board of Directors of the Guild of Producers of Russia, and general director of the COSMOS Studio company, at the 2018 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

He noted that filmmakers are thinking about "pretty serious lawsuits." "We can easily file lawsuits against Yandex and Google for $100 million," Akopov said.

He believes that it's time to take action on these corporations, but "punishment" can be more lenient than suits. "But the punishment can be simplified: they can return what was taken in advertising, they won't have to pay money. Advertising of upcoming premiers of Russian films and sitcoms, legal video services, we can think how else. But in short, come correction works will have to be in order," he said.

Head of the telecom watchdog Alexander Zharov expressed hope that the issues of using copyright content will be settled peacefully, for example, as part of a memorandum between all concerned parties. "We have a public space. In fact, this is an appeal to search engines: ' Dear comrades, let's work together, otherwise you will have to work against suppressive laws, which would not be desirable'," Zharov said.

Yandex stance

Yandex told TASS that the "Yandex search systems works in full compliance with the current legislation." "Video recordings are posted on third-party sites and are played in the player from these sites, and the search engine only shows links to these videos. If the video is removed from the source site, the link to this site will not be displayed in Yandex search," the company said in a statement.

The company notes that it is actively working with rights holders.