The Kinofox cinema’s equipment was confiscated after the company had demonstrated Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and The Book of Eli motion pictures to its audience without paying anything to the soundtrack composers, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities reports. OOO Kinofox is based in Kamensk-Uralskiy, Sverdlovsk Region.

It was revealed that the movie theater had not been paying to the composers of music for Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Alvin & The Chipmunks-2, Black Lightning and The Book of Eli since December 2009. The films were demonstrated to the viewers on the basis of agreements with the copyright holders: Universal Pictures International, 20th Century Fox CIS, and Karo Premiere Movie Company.

‘Nevertheless, Kinofox never signed any agreements that would provide for the money to the soundtrack composers, even though according to the law, any cinema must sign such an agreement and pay the royalties to the composers or to the organization that represents their rights,’ the public prosecution authorities report.

After the Russian Authors’ Association, the All-Russian NGO, had placed its complaint with the authorities, the prosecutor of Kamensk-Uralskiy instituted an administrative offense lawsuit, with charges based on Article 7.12 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code.