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Russian Torrents Website Strips Copyright Holders of Their Rights

Denis Abramov / Vedomosti

Rutracker.org, the world's largest Russian-language torrents website, has deprived copyright holders of the ability to delete illegal downloads, the IT-website Roem.Ru reported Tuesday.

?€?It has been announced officially ?€¦ that all CNA-accounts have been switched to regular user mode,?€? Oleg Yashin from the intellectual property protection association Russian Shield said.

CNA-accounts granted copyright holders the authority to delete links to illegal downloads. They have lost this right with the change in account, Roem.Ru reported.

Rutracker's move came in response to a Moscow City Court order to shut down the website permanently, which came into effect Tuesday.

The claim to block Rutracker.org was filed by Russian publishing house Eksmo on Sept. 23 over the distribution by the torrents website of books by a number of Russian authors, including sci-fi writer Alexander Gromov and detective novelist Daria Dontsova. Eksmo had previously filed two lawsuits against the site.

After the court order was issued on Nov. 9, a Rutracker.org representative said that the website recommended that users bypass the government block, and advised users on how to set up the necessary software.

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