Ratified in July 2004, but apparently not scheduled to take effect until today, September 1st, 2006, new amendments to Russian copyright law now provide the same protection to works published on the internet as those published on paper, CD, or DVD. Violators of the new law are looking at up to 5 years in a Russian jail (Siberia?).
The new amendments to internet law were lobbied for introduction by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, no doubt in an attempt to gain smiles and handshakes with Russia’s quest to get into the WTO.
With an estimated 97% of the music being sold online in Russia still pirated, the 2 year delay in enacting the amendments has apparently had little success. The delay between passage and it’s taking effect was to allow the online music companies a chance to sign licensing contracts with copyright holders.
Vladimir Dragunov, legal advisor of the representative office of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Russia had this to say:
It is a very important step on the way to make Internet market legal… There are no legal sites because no one could fight against internet-pirates—it was difficult to explain the word-splitting that existed before September 1 to judges…The problem is not to destroy each pirate site…It is necessary to change the ratio between piratic and legal Internet from 99 to 10 percent, for instance.
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