The hearing of Anton Matolka’s case was resumed at 10 a.m. on September 1. The photographer is suing the National State Broadcasting Company. The intellectual property judicial board of the Belarusian Supreme Court is considering the case.
Anton Matolka photographed northern lights in Belarus on March 17, 2015, Euroradio reported. He published the photo in his blog and saw it on Belarus 1 later. Matolka had not not allowed anyone to use his photos and asked for compensation (1 rouble). The first hearing was held at the beginning of July. The judge sent the photos to an expertise to find out if they were the result of creative activities. The copyright law Anton Matolka was referring to only protects products of ‘creative activity’. The exprt, head of the department of film art of the Belarusian Academy of Arts Andrei Chuprynski did not recognize the photos as a product of creative activity.
