The largest social network was sentenced to pay a fine of over RUR 1 million.
The decision of the Thirteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal penalized the social network VKontakte in paying RUR 1.35 million to recording companies. This is published by the Vedomosti, referring to the attorney Pavel Katkov who defended the interests of right holders.
He assured that the court ruling compelled the social network to reimburse RUR 750 thousand to the Nikitin Media Digital Content for unlicensed distribution of 10 songs by Grigory Leps.
Mr. Katkov also informed that the court considered the claims filed by the Russian recording company Soyuz for similar infringements regarding the tracks by groups Ruki Vverkh, Aria and Korol y Shut. The compensation in favor of that company totalled RUR 600 thousand.
And although the decision of previous instances on removing argued audio from VKontakte was dismissed by the court, the right holders’ attorney considers the ruling satisfactory, as previously the social network removed pirate audio records, and it must continue preventing their reappearance and compensate considerable losses.
