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The RTCL has been granted the right to protect copyright on the Internet in a more efficient way

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On 29 June 2021 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the draft Law Amending Article 78 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania prepared by the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (hereinafter - RTCL). The draft law aimed to solve practical problems encountered by the RTCL in performing its functions assigned to it in order to effectively protect copyright on the Internet.

According to the new amendment of this Law, the RTCL has been granted the right to issue binding instructions to a payment, financial or other institutions to terminate payments or other financial transactions to an entity performing infringing activities on public computer networks (Internet).

Following the entry into force of the new version of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights on 1 April 2019, in order to implement copyright and related rights protection in the digital environment more efficiently and effectively, the RTCL was obliged to issue mandatory instructions to Internet access service providers to remove access to illegally published copyrighted content by blocking an Internet domain name that identifies a website on which such content was published.

In performing this function, the RTCL has noticed that such a method of copyright protection is not always sufficiently effective, especially in cases where the operators of websites hosting illegally published copyrighted content receive financial benefits from such activities. The RTCL's decisions to block websites did not restrict the ability of such website operators to continue to receive financial benefits from their activities. For example, after blocking the website, which uses the services provided by the financial institution Paysera LT UAB, it was still possible to carry out financial transactions and pay for illegally published copyrighted content on the blocked website.

With this in mind, and in order to create and implement a more efficient and effective mechanism for the protection of copyright and related rights, the RTCL prepared the said project.

The Law Amending Article 78 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania will enter into force on 1 November 2021.

 

 

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Last updated: 30-06-2021
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