Search results : 247

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered a judgment in which, for the first time, it refers to the notion of SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation). In its judgment of 15 March 2022, in the case of OOO Memo v. Russia, the ECtHR expresses its concerns about the risk for democracy of court proceedings instituted with a view to limiting public participation. The case concerns a civil defamation suit brought by a Russian regional state body against a media company. The ECtHR found that allowing executive bodies to bring defamation proceedings against members of the...

In an order of 30 March 2022, the President of the General Court of the European Union rejected the application for interim measures submitted by RT France in case T-125/22 R (RT France/Council). On 1 March 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted a Decision pursuant to Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union and a Regulation pursuant to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) suspending the broadcasting activities of certain media, including RT France, in and towards the European Union (see IRIS 2022-3:1/6 and the Observatory’s note on this subject)....

On 8 March 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decided to apply an urgent interim measure in the case of ANO RID Novaya Gazeta and Others v. Russia. In the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings before it, and having regard to the exceptional context of the war in Ukraine in which the request has been lodged, the ECtHR invited the Russian authorities, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, to abstain until further notice from actions and decisions aimed at full blocking and termination of the activities of Novaya Gazeta, and from other actions that in...

On 3 March 2022, the Arbitration Court of the Kirov Region issued a judgment in the case of Entertainment One UK Ltd vs. Kozhevnikov Ivan Vladimirovich (an individual entrepreneur). The lawsuit was filed on 9 September 2021, when the claimant demanded RUB 40 000 (then EUR 500) for copyright violations, by the respondent, of the exclusive rights for the use of trademarks Peppa Pig and Daddy Pig through illegal reproduction of their images. The court dismissed the claims. It found that although in the Russian Federation foreign entities enjoyed the same rights as Russian ones (part 1 of Article...

On 4 March 2022, both chambers of the Russian parliament adopted and submitted, for the President’s signature, amendments to the criminal law. On the same day, the President signed the amendments into law. The Criminal Code of Russia (see IRIS 2020-6/6) now has three new articles. Article 207-3 introduces liability for “public dissemination of knowingly false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the interests of the protection of the Russian Federation and its citizens, and the sustainability of international peace and security”. The...