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Anti-Piracy Bill Seeks to Limit Lawsuits

A pro-Kremlin lawmaker was to submit an amendment Tuesday to extend anti-piracy legislation to include music, literature and software content available on the Internet.

But in the face of multiple court cases after a previous anti-piracy law, the bill by State Duma Deputy Robert Schlegel of United Russia, would also require copyright owners to give host providers 48 hours to remove contested information before bringing them to court, Kommersant reported Tuesday.  

The bill, part of a greater government effort to increase intellectual property and copyright regulations, would amend a law that came into force Aug. 1 and covered pirated videos. That law allows copyright holders to appeal to the Moscow City Court for an interim content block against websites that violated property rights. Within six weeks of the initial passing, 39 such measures had been processed.

This anti-piracy measure is unpopular with the Russian public. More than 100,000 individuals signed an online petition to repeal it.  

The latest legislation is expected to pass the Duma and be implemented as amendments to the Administrative Code. However, this process might be delayed because portions of the code would have to be regionally verified. 

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