The Spring of Russian E-commerce - An exclusive global perspectives series

Category: Intellectual property

E-books now 5% of market, but pirates still dominate

Special to East-West Digital News by Oleg Kouzbit in partnership with Marchmont News / May 14, 2012

Russia’s e-book market has been growing at a robust CAGR of 120% over the past three years, swelling from 11 million rubles (just under $370,000) in 2008 to 135 million rubles ($4.5 million) in 2011, Russia’s Federal Press and Mass Communication Agency reports in its overview of the national book market’s progress and trends for this year.

According to the report, the top players in the market are LitRes and IMobilco, controlling an aggregate 74% of the domestic e-book trade. LitRes, the leader with a 54% market share, also boasts the majority ownership of copyright for distributing Russian-language books on the Russian-language Internet.

Vkontakte.ru too “passive” with copyright infringement, says arbitration court

By East-West Digital News / Feb 22, 2012

Last week, the St. Petersburg Arbitration Court offered long-awaited explanations about the decision it issued in January of last year regarding an alleged copyright infringement involving Vkontakte.ru, the leading social network in Russia. The Gala Records record label had accused Vkontakte of having illegally offered online copyrighted recordings by the Russian band ‘Infinity’.

Vkontakte claimed it only provided web hosting services for its users and therefore could not be liable for any copyright violations.

Vkontakte.ru still blacklisted by US government for piracy

By East-West Digital News / Dec 23, 2011

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has made public a new edition of its Notorious Markets List earlier this week, identifying “selected markets, including ones on the Internet, that are reportedly engaged in piracy and counterfeiting” across the globe.

Specifically, the blacklist enlarges upon the geographical origin and the dubious commercial nature of marketplaces that “have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property rights infringements,” says the USTR.

Moscow couple charged with video piracy with over $1 billion in damages

By East-West Digital News / Nov 03, 2011

Moscow residents Andrey and Natalya Lopukhov have been charged with Internet video piracy, with Russian and international copyright owners seeking damages estimated at over 38 billion rubles, or $1.26 billion. The Russian Office of the Prosecutor General ordered the couple to be arraigned in court on criminal charges, the Russian press reported last week.

Web Sheriff vs. Web Sheriff: “Digital Cold War” declared between British and Russian anti-piracy companies

By East-West Digital News / Jul 14, 2011 / 1 Comment

Web Sheriff Ltd., a London-based company protecting online rights against infringements, announced last week it “fired the first shots in an international legal battle against an alleged Russian imposter” – namely Iks Media Digital, a Moscow-based company offering similar services to the Russian market under the same trademark.

Russia tightens screws on copyright violations

By East-West Digital News / Jul 12, 2011 / 1 Comment

Three major court cases involving violation of electronic copyright came into the spotlight in Russia over the past two weeks, revealing a steady – though controversial – progress in the application of copyright related legislation in the country.

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CTC Media clamps down on piracy

By Broadband TV News / Jun 20, 2011

CTC Media, a leading Russian broadcasting company, has embarked on a joint campaign with Vkontakte, the largest social network in Russian and the CIS, to combat illegal content and promote Videomore, CTC Media’s own licensed player.

According to CTC Media, which is backed by MTG, the campaign will have the tools at its disposal to search for and delete counterfeit video whose broadcasting rights belong to CTC Media, Inc.

Moscow police crack down on illegal database trade

By East-West Digital News / Jun 17, 2011

The Russian Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications (FSA ITC) together with the Moscow police has conducted a number of pilot special operations to prevent the illegal distribution of databases containing personal data, the agency reported in a news release last week.

The campaign held on June 8 targeted sellers of CDs containing illegal databases at Russia’s largest electronics marketplace, the Gorbushkin Dvor mall in Moscow. During the raid, police confiscated 40 CDs presumably containing police databases with the home addresses and criminal records of individual Russian citizens from 2009, Russian daily Vedomosti wrote.

Pirate software accounts for 65% of all units installed in Russia in 2010

By East-West Digital News / Jun 13, 2011 / 1 Comment

Pirated software accounted for 65% of the volume of all software units installed on PCs in Russia for the year — down 2% from 2009 but nevertheless representing a commercial value of approximately $3 billion, reports Business Software Alliance (BSA) in its 2010 report on global piracy.

Efim Bushmanov: “Good products can’t stay proprietary for long”

An exclusive interview with Skype reverse engineer by East-West Digital News / Jun 05, 2011 / 3 Comments

Tucked away in Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic some 1,400 km northeast of Moscow, Russian programming researcher Efim Bushmanov is getting a lot of attention. Having reverse engineered Skype protocols and then made his research available to the public via his blog just a few days ago on June 2, search queries bearing his name now generate over 10,000 responses on Google. In this interview with EWDN – his first ever exchange with the press – the 30 year old Bushmanov reveals some of what he’s been up to over the past three years while working to replicate Skype’s ‘blackbox.’ While praising Skype for its “unbelievable quality,” he responds to accusations of copyright violations and shares his vision of an open-source VoIP future.

Category: Intellectual property

E-books now 5% of market, but pirates still dominate

Vkontakte.ru too “passive” with copyright infringement, says arbitration court

Vkontakte.ru still blacklisted by US government for piracy

Moscow couple charged with video piracy with over $1 billion in damages

Web Sheriff vs. Web Sheriff: “Digital Cold War” declared between British and Russian anti-piracy companies

Russia tightens screws on copyright violations

CTC Media clamps down on piracy

Moscow police crack down on illegal database trade

Pirate software accounts for 65% of all units installed in Russia in 2010

Efim Bushmanov: “Good products can’t stay proprietary for long”

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