The fierce protest sparked in many European countries in February 2012 by the signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a perfect illustration of the balancing act that legislators have to perform when enshrining the protection of intellectual property rights in law. The interests of both users and rightholders require a compromise that is felt to be "fair".Although the question of shaping the details of copyrights is the focus of intense debate, there is a relatively broad consensus that piracy, that is to say the systematic violation of these rights, must be combated. This IRIS plus looks at the issue of combating internet piracy, which has become an explosive subject, especially owing to the constant improvements in the efficiency of electronic data exchange and the consequent rise in copyright violations.
LEAD ARTICLE
Fighting Internet Piracy in Russia: The Legal Framework and its Development
In hardly any other country have the challenges regarding the protection of intellectual property in general and of audiovisual products in particular been as big as in Russia.
As late as 2011, an international comparison of online pirate copy resources showed that Russia was the world leader in this respect. However, there have been growing signs of late that the country is undergoing a fundamental change in this connection, recent contributory factors being Russia's imminent accession to the WTO and its assurance that it has the political will to make the legal protection of intellectual property more efficient. News on copyright cases has even made the headlines of the Russian media and a public debate on the protection of intellectual property has emerged.
The lead article paints a precise picture of these developments and of the present situation.
