Website blocking in Russia: Recent trends

This article analyses Russian regulation and implementation of website blocking in copyright cases. In Russia, right holders can apply for preliminary website blocking injunctions, which allow the restriction of access to websites used to commit copyright infringements. This gives right holders time to submit a claim against the website operator or hosting provider. In addition, the Russian parliament recently introduced permanent website blocking orders that can be used against websites, which repeatedly infringe copyright. This paper looks into the main trends related to website blocking in Russia: implementation of permanent website blocking, over blocking and lack of proportionality, difficulty to appeal website blocking decisions and the emerging practice of preventive website blocking. When analysing Russian developments the article puts them into context with practices in the EU and UK.