Maxim Ali has written a column for Forbes on the defamation proceedings against the richest university chancellor in Russia

Vladimir Litvinenko, Chancellor at the St Petersburg Mining University, sought damages of 65 million roubles from newspaper Delovoy Peterburg and its journalists, as well as from Transparency International. The court of first instance found that the respondents that published inaccurate information relating to the university’s activities and ordered that the respondent remove the information and pay damages of 10 million roubles to the chancellor. At an appeal hearing, the St Petersburg City Court dismissed claims against Delovoy Peterburg and three of its journalist, as well as reducing the damages payable by Transparency International by five times.

For Forbes, Head of the IP/IT Department at Maxima Legal, Maxim Ali studied the proceedings and provided a detailed analysis of the dispute.

“This kind of case, involving millions of roubles of compensation number only a dozen a year. Claims for the protection of business reputation are not particularly high-value. As a rule, the minimum task is to cover the costs of lawyers and to obtain a withdrawal of previously published information. Pursuing such a case (and even more so if it results in a loss for the claimant) provides publishers with an excellent reason to re-publish any negative information, so the effectiveness of such claims is questionable. This is a “medicine” that should be taken with caution”, Maxim explained.

To read Maxim’s column in full, please see the Forbes’ website.