You're reading: Ukraine named world No. 1 copyright pirate, faces economic sanctions

For the second time in its history, Ukraine has been called world’s No. 1 copyright pirate.

The International
Intellectual Property Alliance, an association representing the U.S.
copyright-based industries, said the Ukraine has “severe legal and copyright
enforcement problems,” and recommended to immediately suspend country’s
benefits in trade with the U.S.

Copyright
piracy has already hit Ukrainian business in 2002, when the U.S. Trade
Representative imposed 100 percent tariff sanctions on $75 million worth of
Ukrainian annual exports to the U.S. The sanctions were removed only in 2005.

“The
piracy rates and level of copyright protection in Ukraine have worsened over
the past two years,” the IIPA said in its report on Feb.7. Among the major
problems it outlined the use of unlicensed software, unauthorized camcording of
films, as well as open markets with will illegal copies of music, films and
software functioning all around the country.

Jorge
Zukoski, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, called this
move a reaction to absence of any protection of intellectual property here.
“This recommendation can and most likely will have a major negative impact on
Ukraine’s international reputation and will even have financial consequences,”
he said.

Ukrainian
society, poor and with short traditions of copyright protection, has little
sympathy for the US concerns.

When in
January 2012 the authorities tried to shut down ex.ua, the country’s main
file-sharing website, numerous government websites, including those of the
central bank and the state security services, were shut down through
distributed denial of service attacks. Public pressure finally prevailed, with
police officials allowing ex.ua to continue operating and later closing a
criminal case against its owners.

Volodymyr
Polishchuk, the Interior Ministry’s spokesman, acknowledged that police are also
at fault as almost half of the software on their computers is illegal.

Unlicensed
software is installed at 84 of every 100 Ukrainian personal computers,
according to the research done by Business Software Alliance, a market research
firm, in 2011. The joint cost of all unlicensed software in Ukraine reached
$647 million in 2011 by the same source.

In early
2013, Microsoft filed through its legal representative Lexfor company a
number of lawsuits worth more than Hr 1 million ($120,000), complaining about the
use by firms of unlicensed Microsoft products. In October 2012 Microsoft won a lawsuit for Hr 66,000 against state-run Uzhhorod airport after local
police revealed unlicensed software was installed at six computers and ticket
offices.

The Microsoft
representatives say they are especially concerned by the huge level of pirate
software among government agencies. “Over 70 percent of programs at state
enterprises and state bodies are unlicensed,” said Yuriy Omelchenko, anti piracy
manager at Microsoft Ukraine, calling the situation “catastrophic.”

Ukraine’s Deputy
Prime Minister Kostiantyn Gryshchenko said that the country has to urgently
amend copyright legislation in reaction to the U.S. concerns. “The threat of
adding Ukraine in the category of major global offenders in that area is a
great challenge for us,” he said on Feb. 12.

But experts
say current laws are enough to fight piracy if only they are properly
implemented.

Oleksiy
Khrystoforov, head of Kharkiv office of Ilyashev & Partners law firm, said that
thanks to the new Criminal Code that came into force in November 2012 a single
complaint to the police would be enough to bring a person to criminal
responsibility for violation of copyright. “The illegal use and sharing of
computer programs and databases presumes imprisonment from three to six years,”
Khrystoforov said.

Julia Semeniy,
partner at Konnov & Sozanovsky law firm, said there were many cases in
Ukraine when people have been criminally persecuted for piracy. “But in most
cases those brought to justice were just the minor malefactors,” she admitted.
More often, she added, such cases end up as civil disputes leading to fines,
which may reach up to 50,000 minimal salaries (Hr 57 million).

But any
punishment would be useless in a society that knows little about persecution
for piracy, lacks available alternatives to pirated copies and fails even to
understand why this is wrong.

Zukoski
believes that the joint efforts of business and authorities are needed. “These
measures should be extended far beyond the fight against counterfeiting and
software certification and include the development of an educational and
cultural environment that fosters and celebrates the development and protection
of new innovative products and services through ensuring that the intellectual
property rights of the creators are protected and that they receive appropriate
compensation for what they have made,” he said.

“Without
that basic protection, Ukrainians will simply not invest the time, resources
and efforts to develop super cool new things that will benefit society and be
used around the world,” he added.

Kyiv
Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]