In what’s known to be the first sentence of its kind in Russia, a web host service provider named “Internet Hosting”, has been found guilty of hosting a pirate website, on which pirated copies of "American Groom" were being shared on a customer’s website. A recent ruling in Moscow City Court said that web hosts in Russia are now responsible for the spreading of any pirated content. "American Groom" is a reality program which is similar to the "The Bachelor" TV show in the U.S.

The lawsuit began in 2013, and "Internet Hosting" filed an appeal in April of 2014 which was rejected by the court. In a report from Voice of Russia, the punitive sentence can be either two years behind bars or correctional labor for violating intellectual property rights.

Previously, all anti-piracy court rulings were limited to copyright violations by specific users or the actual websites which hosted the pirated media. The new Russian copyright law was signed on July 2, 2013, and included amendments to the "Information Technologies and Protection of Information." Basically, the amendments were added to strengthen copyright protection for online environments. Using the language of the new law, the measures are directed at protection of exclusive rights in movies and television shows against copyright violation in "information and telecommunication networks including Internet."

Another change in the law was the introduction of "Information Intermediary" which is an entity that rules on the liability of Internet service providers. With regard to video content, the new law sets out special judicial and administrative procedures of copyright protection against unauthorized content distribution.

This ruling could set a precedent for future similar lawsuits in Russia against web hosting services.