RUSSIA
Russia will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2007 and the United States will conduct an Out-of-Cycle Review to monitor progress on IPR issues.
The U.S. copyright industries estimate that they lost in excess of $2.1 billion in 2006 due to copyright piracy in Russia. The U.S. copyright industries also reported that in 2006 Russia's optical disc production capacity continued to be far in excess of domestic demand, with pirated products apparently intended not only for domestic consumption, but also for export. Internet piracy continues to be a serious concern. The United States notes that criminal investigations are ongoing in Russia and other countries against operators of the Russia-based download website www.allofmp3.com, which offers global distribution of pirated music and is the most notorious of several problem websites operating from within Russia.
Poor enforcement of IPR in Russia is a pervasive problem. The United States notes that prosecution and adjudication of IP cases remains sporadic and inadequate in Russia; there is a lack of transparency and a failure to impose deterrent penalties. Russia's customs administration also needs to significantly strengthen its enforcement efforts. Russian authorities initiated some enforcement actions in 2006, which included raids on some optical disc production facilities and investigation of Internet sites.
The United States worked with Russia throughout 2006 to encourage appropriate actions to protect and enforce IPR. On November 19, 2006, the U.S. Government and the Government of Russia entered into a Bilateral Market Access Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights ("IPR bilateral agreement") on actions that Russia will start taking immediately to address piracy and counterfeiting and improve protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. As part of the IPR bilateral agreement, the Government of Russia has committed to fight optical disc and Internet piracy, protect against unfair commercial use for pharmaceutical test data, deter piracy and counterfeiting through criminal penalties, strengthen border enforcement, and bring Russian laws into compliance with WTO and international IPR norms. Russia's implementation of commitments on IPR will be essential to completing the final multilateral negotiations on the overall WTO accession package.
The most significant legislative development in 2006 was the Duma's adoption of Part IV of the Civil Code, which replaces most of Russia's IPR legislation with a single law. Part IV and implementing regulations to be developed over the next year will go into effect on January 1, 2008. While Russian government ministries and the Duma took steps to address some concerns of certain rights holders and the U.S. Government regarding the new legislation, Part IV still contains provisions that raise serious concerns regarding consistency with WTO and other international agreements. The Government of Russia has pledged in the IPR bilateral agreement to ensure that Part IV and its other IPR measures will be fully consistent with the TRIPS Agreement upon Russia's accession to the WTO. The United States and other WTO Members are discussing Part IV and its compliance with the TRIPS Agreement in the Working Party on Russia's accession to the WTO.
Russia continues to deny national treatment for the protection of geographical indications. Although Russia has committed in the IPR bilateral agreement to implement Article 39.3 of the
23
