IIPA Draws Attention To Russian Piracy

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

16 February 2006

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) on Monday submitted its recommendations to US Trade Representative Rob Portman, in the annual “Special 301” review of copyright piracy and related market access problems around the world.

As a result of the deficiencies in the copyright regimes of the surveyed countries/territories, the copyright industries conservatively estimate that losses due to piracy in 2005 in the 68 countries/territories comcerned were over $15.8 billion. On a global basis (that is, in all countries including the US), IIPA conservatively estimates that total losses due to piracy were $30-35 billion in 2005, not counting significant losses due to Internet piracy, for which meaningful estimates are not yet available.

In particular, the IIPA recommended that USTR designate Russia as a Priority Foreign Country in 2006 and urged that Russia’s eligibility for GSP benefits be immediately suspended.

According to the Alliance:

"Russia’s copyright piracy problem remains one of the world’s most serious. Piracy rates for most sectors are estimated at around 70%-80% in 2005 and losses continue to be staggering."

"Repeated efforts by industry and the US government over many years to convince the Russian government to provide meaningful and deterrent enforcement of its copyright and other laws against optical disc (OD) factories and other types of piracy—including some of the world’s most open and notorious websites selling unauthorized materials, such as www.allofmp3.com, have yielded little progress in reducing these high piracy levels."

"Not only is piracy in the domestic market out of control, but pirate exports continue to flood markets across Eastern and Western Europe."

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