A group of manufacturers of audio-video products demands to annul the governmental enactment

A group of manufacturers of audio-video products legally demands to annul the Russian governmental enactment aimed against piracy.

Pavel Astakhov, a lawyer to represent interests of the government in this case, informed journalists that the Diskalliance non-commercial partnership brought a claim against the government to the Supreme Court requesting to annul the enactment dated June 4 this year which established the new procedure to license the production of audio-video products on any type of carriers.

According to him, the Diskalliance non-commercial partnership comprises 6 large manufacturers of audio-video products, among which were the Urals electronic works, Zelenograd works of musical technologies, Kazan works and three Moscow works.

Pavel Astakhov explained that the plaintiffs demanded, in particular, to annul the requirement to mark identification codes on disks. According to manufacturers, the cost of that operation amounted from USD 100,000 to USD 1,5 million and such a requirement of the government would bankrupt their enterprises.

In addition to that the above-mentioned manufacturers were not satisfied with the requirement put forward by the government for a manufacturing facility to have a copy of the agreement with an author or his/her representative with the authorization to make copies of works of art.

According to Astakhov, in this case the government adopted an unprecedented decision to protect authors' rights. The lawyer reminded of multiple facts of violation of copyright in Russia and tied it together with the extremely outdated law in this sphere.

According to assessments of experts in the Russian government, the Russian market of audio-video products is worth approximately USD 7-10 billion dollars. Average demand for a popular Russian film represents about 10 million copies. But authors get contracts for only half a million copies.

Thus only 5 percent of produce is sold legally, and authors are denied 95% of their potential earnings.

According to specialists, the Russian movie industry annually loses about USD 100 million as a result of violation of authors' rights.