80% of audio and video products pirated in Russia

Pirated audio and video products account for about 80% of the Russian market, said Anti-Pirating Organization Director Constantine Zemchenkov in a press conference yesterday. He said that about 270 million audio cassettes were sold in Russia in 2002, of which only 40% were sold legally. Moreover, 95 million of 115 million video cassettes, which were sold in Russia in 2002, were pirated. Only one in seven CDs sold so far in 2003 was properly licensed. In addition, not more than 20% of DVDs sold so far this year were properly licensed.

Zemchenkov also said that 30 factories in Russia are engaged in the production of optical discs. 'These are very large factories. One DVD production line can make 450 thousand disks per month in a 24-hour per day regime. There is also a demand for Russian disks in Ukraine, Poland and other European countries, where the majority of disks sold are produced in Russia,' he said.