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On February 11, from 17.00 to 19.00, a picket (sanctioned) against the latest amendments regarding copyright will be held on Pushkin Square. The picket is authorized, the number of participants should not exceed 60 people.

The picket participants want to turn it into a street gallery of free culture and encourage everyone to bring some posters with pictures on the topic of copyright and “anti-copyright.”

The amendment to Article 1273, Part 4 of the Civil Code applies to everyone who downloads texts, pictures, music or videos from the Internet for personal purposes. Now this can only be done “if necessary”, otherwise it will be necessary to pay remuneration to authors and copyright holders or a fine of ten thousand to five million rubles, or even imprisonment for two years. At the same time, even the entry of a file into the browser cache during simple Internet surfing, that is, visiting different sites, can be considered copying and reproduction. In this regard, as Vedomosti writes, the Internet and Business Association is preparing a corresponding appeal to the Minister of Communications and Mass Media Igor Shchegolev.

Meanwhile, this amendment, as stated in the explanatory note, is necessary for accession to the WTO, since the corresponding article of the Civil Code must be brought into compliance with the international agreement on intellectual property rights and the Berne Convention.