US says level of intellectual ppty protection in Russia declines

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the country’s chief trade negotiator, has kept Russia on the priority watch list in 2017 amid a growing volume of intellectual property (IP) crimes, according to the USTR’s special report seen by PRIME on Friday.

“Challenges to IP protection and enforcement in Russia include copyright infringement, trademark counterfeiting, and non-transparent collective management organization procedures.

In particular, the U.S. remains concerned about stakeholder reports that IP enforcement continued to decline overall in 2016, following similar declines in the prior four years including a reduction in resources for enforcement personnel,” the report read.

“The volume of counterfeit goods trafficking originating from abroad is increasing and Russian enforcement agencies continue to lack sufficient staffing, expertise, and the political will to combat IP crimes.”

The U.S. office said that Russia took some positive steps in 2016. “The Moscow City Court granted more than 700 preliminary injunctions against IP infringers,” it said.

“However, despite this limited progress, the lack of enforcement of intellectual property crimes is a persistent problem, with the overall number of raids, criminal charges, and convictions continuing to decline.”

“Additionally, stakeholders report a 300% increase in 2016 of unauthorized camcords (electronic devices combining a video camera and a recorder), exacerbating a sharp rise in 2015. Stakeholders further report that these problems negatively affect, in particular, independent producers and distributors, the majority of which are small and medium -sized enterprises,” it said.

According to the report, royalty collection in Russia also continues to lack transparency and fails to meet international standards.

“Russia is a thriving market for counterfeit hard goods sourced from China, entering the country

through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan,” the document read.

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