Russia Warned Over Video Piracy
Video and DVD piracy in Russia costs the American movie industry up to $450 million a year, a representative of a U.S. established anti-piracy organization said Thursday.
Konstantin Zemchenkov, director of the Russian Anti-Piracy Organization, or RAPO, said about 80 percent of videos sold in Russia are pirated. He warned that if the piracy continues, trade relations with the United States could be damaged.
"Russia could be subjected to measures such as trade cuts and increased trade tariffs," he told a news conference in Moscow. RAPO was established by several of the U.S. entertainment industry's biggest companies including Paramount, Warner, Disney, Universal, MGM and 20th Century Fox.
Zemchenkov also warned that Russia's long awaited accession to the World Trade Organization could be jeopardized by a failure to clampdown on fake video and DVD producers.
Moscow has responded to pressure to step up its defense of intellectual property rights — a priority issue for WTO membership by recently passing several groundbreaking laws. But Zemchenkov said the laws are not being implemented properly.
"We have the laws but they are not applied sufficiently," he said. "This is Russia's biggest problem."
The piracy situation is particularly serious in Russia's northern capital St. Petersburg, Zemchenkov said. He said a representative from the U.S. movie industry recently addressed Congress about the problem of movie piracy in Russia and in particular St. Petersburg.
According to research carried out by RAPO, 85 percent of videos and 90 percent of DVD's sold in St. Petersburg are pirated.
"Video pirates are squeezing legal producers out of the market in St. Petersburg," said Ekaterina Chukovskaya, deputy culture minister. "The situation worries us very much."
Chukovskaya said the Culture Ministry, which is responsible for issuing certification for genuine videos and DVDs, was trying to coordinate with the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for law enforcement.
But both Chukovskaya and Zemchenkov said certain law enforcement agencies are often complicit with the movie pirates to force legitimate sellers out of business.
"This is happening, unfortunately, with the help of law enforcement agencies ... who are supporting these criminal structures," Zemchenkov said.
He said representatives of local police have been known to raid legitimate video and DVD shops and seize their products, while supporting pirate sellers.
Genuine movie DVD's cost up to US$20 in Russia — too expensive for most average citizens. Pirate copies, however, can be purchased for around $6 from stalls and markets, often even before the film has been released in local cinemas.