Rappers from Russia require Yandex 5.4 million rubles for copyright infringement

Speech artists whose music was used by "Yandex". Photo: Dmitry Petelin, Dmitry Golinsky, RockTimes

Today it became known about the litigation between the companies SO / Era Music and Yandex. The defendant is Yandex, which the claimant accuses of violating copyright and related rights, demanding 5.4 million rubles in compensation. According to representatives of SO / Era Music, on the service Yandex.Music, the works of two Russian groups, 25/17 and Led 9, were illegally posted. The license for all their works belongs to the plaintiff, who previously tried to negotiate with the Internet company, but failed.

Initially, the works 25/17 and Ice 9 were placed under a license, according to which CO / Era Music, provided its catalogs to Yandex for a certain period and certain conditions. Some time later, the right holder found out that Yandex had violated the conditions and terms for using the compositions specified in the license, they write to Izvestia. In particular, Yandex is accused of illegally placing albums on the Yandex.Music service and images of artists of these groups for promotional purposes.

"Yandeks.Muzyka" received revenues from advertising and from a paid subscription in a mobile application. For advertising a mobile application used portraits of our artists ", - said Maxim Kulkov, managing partner of the law firm" Kulkov, Kolotilov and partners ", which represents the interests of the plaintiff in court .

A preliminary court hearing has already been scheduled; it will be held on May 23. According to experts, SO / Era Music LLC has every chance to win the trial. “In court, it will be necessary to prove only two facts: that the claimant does have rights and that Yandex has no such rights. Usually it is very simple. The use of other people's works is prohibited. If the plaintiff in court proves the fact of negotiations, that is, Yandex knew that it was breaking the law, and did nothing with it, this could be a reason to increase compensation, ”commented Ludmila Kharitonova, managing partner of the law firm“ Zartsin, Yankovsky and partners. "

According to Leonid Agronov, director general of the National Federation of the Music Industry (unites holders of musical content), music publishers in Russia, especially small ones, very rarely go to court to protect their rights. “I have no rational explanation of why this is happening, it is strange and wrong. As a result, the entire industry suffers. Major rightholders understood this a long time ago, ”said Leonid Agronov.

Both groups, whose copyright was violated, were founded by the same musicians - Andrey Pozdnukhov and Anton Zavyalov.