Russian union wants to charge every Internet user 300 rbl/year

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian Union of Right-holders (RUR) has calculated that Internet users should pay 300 rubles to rights’ owners, Sergei Fedotov, general director of the union, the initiator of the idea, said Thursday.

“The following tariff model is offered: if you are linked to the Internet, your account, be it a mobile telephone or a landline Internet, 25 rubles will be added to your bill each month. That makes 300 rubles a year. According to the statistics in hand, it’s about 5% of average spending on Internet by point of access: at present, such expenses amount to some 6,000 rubles a year,” Fedotov said.

He said the payment should be charged from a single connection to the Internet. “If you have Internet at home via Wi-Fi, and you have third generation (3G) on phone, you pay for the Internet and the global license twice,” Fedotov said.

The union expects that total annual collection at about U.S. $860 million.

“We think that this amount will cover interests of all rights’ owners that are presented on the Russian digital market. We speak about cinema, music and literature,” Fedotov said.

The union, whose council is headed by famous Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov, suggested in October introducing a mechanism of payment for the use of copyright materials, including a fixed fee charged from Internet users, which will be divided between rights’ owners.

(54.3821 rubles – U.S. $1)

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