The draft bill, which would replace all existing legal safeguards, is riddled with holes and would likely increase international property theft, said the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, an organization active in the former Soviet Union made up of trademark, patent and brand owners and other groups.
As MosNews has reported on numerous occasions, Russia has brought its intellectual property laws largely in line with international norms, but enforcement remains weak despite widely publicized police raids on factories where pirated DVDs, CDs and software are made. The issue of intellectual property rights is one of the main issues on which Russia’s WTO membership negotiations with the United States had stumbled. U.S. companies have said that pirated films, music and software in Russia have cost them nearly $1.8 billion in 2005 alone. The International Intellectual Property Alliance even urged the U.S. administration to suspend trade benefits to Russia over the piracy issue.
Stalls selling pirated music and software as well as DVDs of the latest Hollywood films can be found throughout the Russian capital and other cities. |
 
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