Penza, 18 May 2016. PenzaNews. The Intellectual Rights Court has turned down the appeal by “VPenze.ru” that requested to overrule the decision of the Penza region Arbitration Court and the statement of the Eleventh Arbitration Appeal Court that enforced the company in question to pay “VolgaInterMedia” – founding body of PenzaNews – a compensation of 52,000 rubles for illegal use of two photos.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

The case was reviewed in three instances for just under a year, after the Penza region Arbitration Court had received the claim from the copyright holder in June 2015. After several sessions, on 30 November 2015 judge Sergei Averyanov ruled fully in favor of complainant’s claims for a compensation of 52,000 rubles – 25,000 rubles for each photo.

In addition, the defendant was ruled to pay the state duty of 2,000 rubles for the complainant.

Disagreeing with the verdict of the first instance, in late December, the “VPenze.ru” representative Radik Musautov addressed an appeal to Samara, which was later reviewed by the board of three judges in the Eleventh Arbitration Appeal Court headed by Svetlana Nikolaeva in February 2016. However, they confirmed the conclusions of the Penza region Arbitration Court, and overturned the appeal.

In spite of that, the “VPenze.ru” representative Radik Musautov a month later provided a documented bill of payment for state duty of 3,000 rubles, and addressed a complained on five sheets in small print to the Intellectual Rights Court in Moscow, where he asked to overrule the decisions of both the Penza region Arbitration Court and the Appeal Court.

In late April, the complainant in the copyright case, as well as the PenzaNews editor-in-chief Pavel Polosin acting as a third party, submitted motivated comments on the appeal with requests for the court to turn it over.

As in Samara, the appeal in the Intellectual Rights Court was reviewed by a board of threee judges. According to the information published on the Court’s website, the session headed by judge Dmitry Bulgakov lasted under an hour – from the noon of May 17 to 12.55.

They ruled to turn down the appeal by “VPenze.ru,” effective on the same day.

In a comment on the decision, the “VolgaInterMedia” president Ivan Malikov called the verdict not just impartial, but also fully rationalized and beyond any exceptions.

“A total of seven judges – one in Penza, three in Samara and three more in Moscow – confirmed the rationale behind our claims against ‘VPenze.ru’ in regards to both our complaints over illegal use of photos on the eponymous portal and the size of compensation. The process lasted longer than we had originally expected, as the defendant submitted constant appeals to the verdicts, while in fact trying to stall the very first decision. However, I think the result was worth it. It is crucial for us to see that all instances that we had to encounter confirmed the point that would seem apparent to some: nobody has the rights to use somebody else’s copyrighted work without the copyright holder’s agreement – and going against it will result in administrative punishment,” Ivan Malikov said.