The government will inspect 5 CD manufacturers to see whether they are pressing pirated discs. Problem is, the manufacturers know the government is coming...
In response to complaints that Ukraine is either unwilling or unable to enforce international laws protecting
copyrights and other intellectual property,the government has announced that a special commission will audit five leading manufacturers of compact discs.
The commission, ordered by the Cabinet of Ministers and comprised of tax police, Interior Ministry officials, and U.S. trade and diplomatic officials, will visit three production facilities in Kyiv, one plant in Kherson and another in Lviv to look for evidence that the companies are manufacturing illicit products.
Industry representatives decried the planned five-hour inspections, alleging that they constitute illegal searches and that they are government shows produced to satisfy the United States.
“This is absurd,” said Ihor Yekhenvald, a representative of an industry trade group called the Union of Copyright Users. “We are not against any inspection if there are legal grounds for it, but we do not see it in this case.”
Yekhenvald says investigators can search all they want, but they will see only what the plants are manufacturing during the visit. The plants do not keep file copies of compact discs they have manufactured, he says.
“We only have contracts where the volume of production and the customer is indicated,” Yehenvald said. “The price remains the same no matter what kind of CD is produced.”
Even if the plants were found to have made pirated CDs, the government should not target production facilities, Yehenvald said. “It is the customer who is responsible for (obtaining) copyrights,” he said.
Inspectors will check equipment, see how orders are processed and distributed, and ensure that products contain special industry-mandated authentication codes. Pirated CDs lack the codes.
Two technical experts from the International Federation for Production Industry (IFPI) are to join the commission, as well as a deputy U.S. trade representative, according to William Klein, a U.S. Embassy economic officer.
“Together with the government of Ukraine, we want to make sure that there is no unlicensed production and export of audio and video products,” Klein said.
“It is better for the companies to cooperate with the inspection and prove that they do not violate copyright,” Zhulinsky said.
Yehenvald believes investigators are looking in the wrong place.
“The problem is not at the plants,” Yehenvald insists. “It is with the licensing.”
Yehenvald sees the investigation as an attempt to destroy Ukraine’s CD production industry.
The Ukrainian government and the U.S. government are being intentionally misled by forces that do not want Ukraine to have its own production facilities, he said.
