IPR: RUSSIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT PARTICIPATION IN A NORTHEAST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 001439 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RUS(TUMINARO),EEB/IPE(URBAN) STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR KALVAREZ, PBURKHEAD USDOC 4231 JBROUGHER, USPTO MSMITH DOJ/CCIPS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ETRD KIPR ECON RS SUBJECT: IPR: RUSSIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT PARTICIPATION IN A NORTHEAST AND BALTIC CONFERENCE ON INTERNET PIRACY -------------- ¶1. Summary. A delegation of Russian law enforcement officials participated in the 5th annual USPTO Northeast Baltic Regional Conference on Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Environment held in Helsinki, Finland on April 28-29, ¶2009. Their participation signals a growing interest in IPR protection. The purpose of the conference was to offer a forum for law enforcement officials, prosecutors and intellectual property experts to share knowledge and practical experiences of effective investigation and prosecution of both copyright piracy in the electronic environment, and trademark counterfeiting over the Internet. Delegations from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, UK, and the U.S. also participated. Conference participants encouraged further cooperation between Russian and foreign law enforcement to combat Internet piracy challenges. End Summary. ¶2. Pol/Econ Officer from St. Petersburg and Embassy Moscow's IPR Attache attended the "Northeast Baltic Regional Conference on Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Electronic Environment" held by the USPTO and Embassy Helsinki on April 28-29, 2009. The purpose of the conference was to offer a forum for law enforcement officials, prosecutors and intellectual property experts to share knowledge and practical experiences of effective investigation and prosecution of both copyright piracy in the electronic environment, and trademark counterfeiting over the internet. Officials from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, UK, U.S. and Russia participated. -------------- ¶3. Although this was the fifth annual conference of this kind (previous conferences had all been held in Tallinn, Estonia),it was the first time Embassy Moscow was successful in recruiting officials from Russia to attend. The Russian delegation comprised of working-level representatives from various agencies such as the Federal Customs Service, the General Procuracy, and the Ministry of Interior's Cybercrimes and Economic Investigation Units, as well as representatives from the Russian Embassy in Finland. While the USPTO provided incentive to attend by covering their travel expenses, their active participation in exchanging opinions indicated sincere interest. Russian officials pointed out, in the last year Russian courts considered over 6,000 cases related to violations of IP rights. This represents considerable progress in comparison with just three years ago, when the number of similar cases was less than one hundred. Representatives of neighboring countries encouraged increased cooperation from their Russian counterparts. In particular, a representative of a Finnish anti-piracy center underscored that the cooperation extended by Russian Customs authorities largely facilitated his country's success in fighting CD/DVD piracy. -------------- ¶4. In general physical piracy is down in all the concerned countries because Internet piracy is becoming the predominant method of selling unlicensed copyrighted material. Conference participants seemed to agree that the emerging threat of Internet piracy will require closer international cooperation, including deeper involvement of Russian law enforcement with international anti-piracy operations. Russia remained the unnamed 'elephant in the room' as participating rights holders groups, such as the IFPI and representatives of the MPAA spoke about "the Region's worst Internet enforcer." In general, industry considers Russia a safe-haven for internet pirates as Russian laws offer favorable loopholes on copying for personal use, with little threat of enforcement. -------------- ¶5. The Russian Ministry of Interior (MVD) Cybercrimes Unit, known as "Department K," is charged with all computer-related crimes, but Internet piracy is reportedly low on their list of priorities. At the conference, a Department K representative reported some successes in shutting down websites offering unlicensed software for download, but admitted that Russia has yet to successfully prosecute a single Internet piracy case involving music or movies. The copyright industry explains the reason for the focus on software: Department K investigators tend to go for the 'low hanging fruit.' MOSCOW 00001439 002 OF 002 The prosecutor must prove to the court that the minimum monetary threshold of 250,000 rubles (approximately $8000) of damages has been met for the crime to be considered "serious" under Russia's Criminal Code. Because software programs are more expensive than movies or songs, it's easier and less work to add up each infringing sale of a software program to meet the minimum threshold. Contributing to the enforcement problem, Department K can only investigate computer crimes; it cannot prosecute. Once Department K determines an infringement, it must turn the investigation over to the Investigative Department to initiate a criminal case. U.S. rights holders suspect that communication between Department K and the Investigative Department is poor, resulting in fewer case transfers between departments and delays. -------------- ¶6. Nevertheless, conference organizers and industry agreed that it's an important and positive sign that the Russian delegation participated. All conference participants agreed that more extensive cooperation among the concerned governmental agencies of Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland as well as other former Soviet Union and North-East European countries is necessary. A highlight of the conference was the discussion of international cooperation in the G8-initiated "24/7 Network" whereby each signatory country makes available a 24-hour hotline number to foreign law enforcement officials requesting assistance with computer crimes cases. Matt Lamberti, DOJ Regional IPR Coordinator based in Sofia, Bulgaria explained that in the U.S., the DOJ utilizes the 24/7 Network to facilitate requests from foreign governments for data preservation from free email services such as Gmail or Yahoo. The saved email data can later provide vital support evidence in prosecuting IPR cases. The Russian delegation at the conference was not aware that the Russian Federation is a member of the 24/7 Network and were pleased to receive information about the contact within their own government, as well as the hotline number in the U.S. -------------- ¶7. As Internet crime becomes increasingly more international, where the common scenario for an illegal website includes hosting the server in one country, the ISP in another, and the payment processing company in a third, more attention and resources are needed to aid international cooperation among law enforcement. To counteract Russia's growing Internet piracy problem, Russia's law enforcement bodies need to adapt and prioritize their enforcement efforts. Both participants and organizers discussed future cooperation and made plans for participation in next year's Regional conference on digital piracy. BEYRLE