Security News Court blocks Yandex's appeal over Pirated TV content

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https://torrentfreak.com/court-rejects-yandexs-piracy-blocking-appeal-as-talks-with-rightsholders-falter-181013/

In August, Russian tech giant Yandex was forced to remove pirated TV content from its search engine following orders from the Court. Yandex felt the law had been misapplied so filed appeals to have the order lifted. That effort has now been rejected by the Court for a second time pending a full hearing next week.

Following persistent complaints from copyright holders that Russian Internet giant Yandex has failed to keep ‘pirate’ links to TV shows out of its search results, several major broadcasters filed a lawsuit with the Moscow City Court.

Gazprom-Media outlets including TNT, TV-3, 2×2, and Super asked the Court to have ISPs block Yandex’s video indexing platform. The Court complied and gave Yandex until August 30 to remove all of the offending content.

Yandex responded with a refusal to comply, insisting that the law had been misinterpreted and that search engines are not covered by existing legislation. Content should be removed by the sites hosting it, Yandex claimed.

The cases against Yandex have caused an element of confusion in Russia over the limits of current copyright law. In September, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov said that the country’s anti-piracy legislation needs to be “improved” following the Yandex/Gazprom dispute.