February 23, 2005
Mos News

The losses incurred by U.S. software, film, and music companies as a result of pirated materials distributed in Russia grossed at $1.7 million (billion?) last year, Russia’s Culture and Mass Communication Minister has announced.

With Russia’s record of intellectual property rights violations one of the worst in the world, on Tuesday Culture Minister Alexander Sokolov signed a cooperation agreement with a number of social organizations working towards protecting intellectual property rights.

“In the sphere of intellectual property rights we are dealing with a well thought-out system of evading the law,” Russia’s RBC news agency quoted Sokolov as saying after the signing.

He called for social organizations to join efforts to fight piracy, and noted a vacuum in legislation protecting intellectual property.

Meanwhile, according to the firm Macrovision, losses by international DVD producers alone from Russian piracy were as much as $4 billion.

Russia is among the 15 countries negatively affecting U.S.-based intellectual property, according to a report by U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick. Improving its intellectual property record is one of the issues linked to Russia’s joining the World Trade Organization.

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/02/23/piracy.shtml