Permanent Restrictions on Torrent Sites in Russia
On October 14, the Moscow City Court issued a significant ruling, permanently restricting access to the torrent tracker Rutor.org along with twelve other websites known for hosting pirated content. This decision was reported by RAPS, citing Ulyana Solopova, the head of the court’s press service.
The lawsuit was initiated by LLC “Basileus Distribution,” which sought a permanent ban on fourteen specific sites. Notably, one of the resources listed by the plaintiff managed to evade this restriction. In addition to Rutor.org, the court ordered the blocking of several other sites, including Bobfilm.net, Dream-film.net, Kinokubik.com, Kinozal.tv, Kinobolt.ru, Seedoff.net, Torrentor.net, Tushkan.net, Tv.serial-online.net, and Wood-film.ru.
According to a court representative, this marks the first instance in Russia where access to websites has been permanently terminated based on a copyright protection lawsuit. It was also noted that neither the defendants nor their representatives were present during the court proceedings.
The legal framework for such permanent site blocks is rooted in amendments to the “anti-piracy law,” which were signed into effect by President Vladimir Putin in November 2014. These amendments empower the court to impose a lifetime ban on websites that repeatedly infringe upon intellectual property rights. The amendments came into force on May 1, 2015.
Earlier in October, the Moscow City Court received a request for the permanent blocking of RuTracker.org, the largest torrent tracker in Russia, which attracts approximately one million visitors daily. This lawsuit was filed by a company associated with the National Federation of the Music Industry (NFMI), which includes major labels such as Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, EMI, Gala Records, and Navigator Records. In response, Roskomnadzor suggested that the parties involved attempt to resolve their issues amicably before proceeding with legal action.
On the same day, Vadim Ampelonsky, the press secretary of Roskomnadzor, announced that the rights holders might withdraw their request for the lifetime ban on RuTracker.org, as reported by Interfax. He indicated that representatives from NFMI and RuTracker had met in a “positive atmosphere” and outlined steps toward normalizing the situation. During this meeting, the rights holders presented their demands, which were acknowledged by the representatives of RuTracker.
