UPDATE: Rambler board to meet to discuss Nginx case by end 2019

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MOSCOW, Dec 13 (PRIME) -- The board of directors of Russian media holding Rambler Internet Holding, working as Rambler Group, will hold an extraordinary meeting until the end of 2019 to discuss the situation with web service Nginx, Yandex’s board of directors Chairman Lev Khasis told PRIME on Friday.

Media earlier reported that a Moscow office of Nginx had been searched under a criminal case opened on suspicion of violation of the author’s rights. The service was designed in early 2000s by Igor Sysoyev, Rambler’s former employee. Sysoyev together with another Rambler  employee, Maxim Konovalov, established Nginx in 2011. U.S. firm F5 acquired the business in spring for U.S. $670 million.

A Rambler spokesperson said that the holding’s exclusive right for Nginx had been breached because of activities of third parties, but Rambler had conceded the right for recovery to firm Lynwood Investments.

Khasis confirmed that the right for recovery on Nginx belongs to Lynwood. “It is a company that initiates all the cases. The company is not part of the Rambler Group, it is beyond the perimeter, and the rights were handed over several years ago…At the moment, Rambler is not a party in the story,” he said.

“As chairman of the board of directors, I asked to summon a special meeting of Rambler’s board of directors on the matter where we’ll deal with the situation in detail, look through all documents and I’d be able to give more information than I have at the moment.”

Country needs open source

Internet companies Yandex and Mail.ru Group said Russia should support and develop the open source culture.

“The events of the last days make us declare our position on the news about project Nginx. We at Yandex believe that modern Internet is impossible without an open source culture and people who invest their time in development of programs with an open source,” said Grigory Bakunov, head of technologies distribution at Yandex.

“Persecution for open source is a very poor signal to the community of programmers. We’re absolutely certain that all technological companies should support and develop the open source movement.”

Mail.ru Group also said it welcomes the open source culture and the people who invest time and energy in its progress.

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