Russia is planning to relax rules governing intellectual property rights to offset the sanctions imposed by Western nations in response to its military offensive against Ukraine.
Recently, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development reportedly proposed to ease the piracy legislation, which would effectively legalise the piracy of games, movies, TV shows, and more. The West, including the US, has announced sanctions on Russian elites and financial institutions to dissuade them from escalating the offensive in Ukraine. These moves target the Russian economy and aim to build pressure to stop the war in Ukraine.
However, Russia appears to be looking at ways to minimise the impact of these sanctions. The Ministry of Economic Development has reportedly said that it is considering the possibility of lifting restrictions on the use of intellectual property contained in certain goods, the supply of which to Russia is limited.
According to a report by London-based City A.M., Russian companies will have no obligation to pay for the use of intellectual property from any countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.
State-backed newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that Russian politician Dmitry Ionin has suggested that the country unblock torrenting suite RuTracker to help Russians pirate Hollywood films. This demand has come as big Hollywood studios have suspended the release of their films in Russian theatres.