Russians try piracy offensive, again
Skeptics fear enforcement will relax to previous levels
Developments over the last week, as law enforcers launched a large-scale operation dubbed Counterfeit, might suggest that progress is being made at last.
But skeptics say the moves are directly connected to resolution of crucial issues connected to territory's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
And the fear is that once that move has been approved, enforcement will relax to previous levels. It wouldn't be the first time: Legislation banning streetside sale of CDs and DVDs a couple of years ago effectively ceased to operate only months after its announcement -- and trade taking place in underpasses returned to previous levels.
On the plus side, as many as two-thirds of Moscow retail outlets selling illegal product may have closed in recent days -- but that closure has been seen by observers as self-imposed, as owners shut up their shops to effectively wait for the issue to pass. In some venues, they simply waited for the end of the police working day, with traders knowing that, come evening, they won't be at risk of raids.
It may not have been the best time for President Vladimir Putin's rep to the Russian parliament's upper house, Alexander Kotenkov, to go on record in local paper the Moscow Times saying that citizens are "not at fault for being unable able to buy licensed discs," in a discussion on realistic pricing of product. He went on to admit that he himself had purchased compilation pirate DVDs, which typically make up five or six films at around half the price of a single legal title.
Responsibility for Counterfeit has been placed right at the top of Russia's interior ministry, but it's a field where observers agree corruption runs to very high ranks as well.
Local monitor group RAPO, affiliated with the MPAA and repping the interests of major studios as well as some local players, diligently -- and often dangerously -- collects data on factory production levels. Recent raids across the country, driven by cooperation with local authorities, have been stepped up.
The org knows location and capacities of units concerned -- more than 40 licensed production plants across the territory, as well as a number of unlicensed ventures -- and understand the large discrepancies with the local legal sales market. Estimates of the pirate market for audiovisual product run around 95%.
Russian pirate product has appeared far beyond country's borders, in as many as 27 other states recorded to date. Recently, a significant part has moved onto the Internet, with unpoliced download opportunities coming increasingly to replace street sales.
So, whether the wider tide against piracy in Russia has turned, or if all will come back to previous standards after the territory's WTO accession is inked, remains a wide-open question.
