Last year, the U.S. indicted two Russians who stand accused of operating the book piracy site Z-Library. Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova were arrested in Argentina. The U.S. requested their extradition but the defendants want to stop that in its tracks. The pair have asked a New York federal court to dismiss the indictment, citing various shortcomings.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
With more than 13 million books available for download, Z-Library is one of the largest repositories of pirated books on the Internet.
The site has millions of regular readers who find a wealth of free knowledge and entertainment at their fingertips.
Z-Library’s very existence was put to the test last November when U.S. law enforcement agencies seized over 200 domain names connected to the site. The site survived this initial crackdown and a new round of domain name seizures in May also failed to take it permanently offline.
Alleged Operators Arrested and Indicted
While the shadow library remains operational, two alleged operators of the site are in serious trouble. Following an FBI investigation, the authorities identified Russian nationals Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova as prime suspects. The pair were arrested in Argentina last year and now face potential extradition to the United States.
According to the U.S., the Russian duo amassed over a million dollars a year through donations, while engaging in criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering,
The extradition proceedings are still underway but the defendants don’t want things to get that far. They have retained U.S. attorneys who asked the New York federal court this week to dismiss the criminal indictment.
Motion to Dismiss the Indictment
The defendants are represented by attorneys Maria Temkin and Anna V. Brown, two American lawyers who both speak Russian. They submitted a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the allegations are not sufficient to support a criminal prosecution in New York.
“Defendants are two Russian nationals that have neither resided in the United States nor visited the United States during the time relevant to the Indictment. While traveling as tourists in Argentina, Napolsky and Ermakova were detained pursuant to an arrest warrant issued in this case.
“No facts were presented in the Indictment or any supporting court documents that either Defendant’s conduct took place in this district,” the defense attorneys add in their preamble.
Deficient Copyright Infringement Claims
The indictment lists five counts and charges Napolsky and Ermakova with criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. These claims are all deficient, according to the defense, but here we’ll zoom in on the copyright allegations.
The motion to dismiss doesn’t deny allegations the pair were involved with Z-Library, nor does it refute that there are copyright-infringing books on the site. Instead, it argues that the defendants can’t be held accountable for copyright infringement in the United States.
“There is no such thing as an international copyright that automatically protects an author’s writings throughout the world. Protection against unauthorized use in any country is within the national justice system of each country,” the motion reads.
“There are no facts in the charging documents to support the legal conclusion that Defendants reproduced or distributed copyrighted materials within the United States. Defendants neither resided nor traveled to the United States during the time relevant to the Indictment.”
Copyright-infringing books on Z-Library were accessible from American IP addresses, but that doesn’t mean that Napolsky and Ermakova ‘reproduced’ or ‘distributed’ books in the United States.
The defense also responds to the allegation that an FBI agent was able to request and received copyrighted books through Z-Library’s ‘send by email’ function. While that may be true, this isn’t conduct that can be ascribed to the defendants, the lawyers argue.
“There is no allegation Defendants knew the location of the undercover FBI agents and willfully directed the materials to the United States.”
The alleged financial benefit is not directly tied to the U.S. either, the defense notes. Z-Library received many donations in Amazon gift cards but they could be spent in Russia too, before the Ukraine-related sanctions.
What Copyrights?
In addition to failing to state offenses, the indictment also lacks specificity with regard to these same offenses. For example, it’s not clear which specific works were infringed and who holds the copyright to those books.
“The Indictment fails to identify any book titles that Defendants had allegedly distributed in this district without the permission of a copyright holder. Nor does the Indictment identify any valid copyrights in existence at the times alleged in the Indictment.
“The dates or circumstances of such reproduction and distribution are also missing. It is also unclear what specific acts Defendants undertook ‘to infringe copyright’,” the motion adds.
In addition to the copyright issues, the defense further argues that the fraud and money laundering claims are not sufficient to establish jurisdiction in the United States. Based on these and other arguments, it believes that the indictment should be dismissed.
This is the first time that Napolsky and Ermakova have responded to the criminal claims in a U.S. court. The prosecution will likely oppose the motion to dismiss, after which the court will decide whether the case can move forward.
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A copy of the motion to dismiss the indictment, submitted at the federal court for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York is available here (pdf)
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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