Russia Legalizes Piracy From List Of Unfriendly Nations In Response To Sanctions
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: March 14, 2022 10:30PM UTC
Last Modified: March 14, 2022 10:30PM UTC
MOSCOW - Russia is reportedly legalizing piracy by issuing a decree this week allowing businesses to steal patents from anyone in its list of 'unfriendly nations' and stating that unauthorized use of the patents will not be compensated.
The decree, which was issued this week will lift restrictions on intellectual property protections was said by Russia's Ministry of Economic Development to "mitigate the impact on the market of supply chain breaks, as well as shortages of goods and services that have arisen due to the new sanctions of western countries".
While Russia's decree does not cover trademark protection, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development had stated last week that they were considering "removing restrictions on the use of intellectual property contained in certain goods whose supply to Russia is restricted".
Josh Gerben, and intellectual property lawyer in Washington said that "It’s just another example of how [Putin] has forever changed the relationship that Russia will have with the world".
Gerben stated that this paves the way for Russian companies to use foreign branded names for their own businesses ventures, which could allow Russia to both compensate for losses due to sanctions, as well as losses from the droves of foreign businesses now withdrawing their services from the country.
McDonald's is closing 850 of their fast food restaurants located in Russia. Gerben said that Russia could "take those McDonald’s that got shut down and … just let local operators operate the restaurants and call them McDonald’s" in order to make up for lost revenue.
Russia's list of 'unfriendly states' include: Australia, Albania, Andorra, United Kingdom, including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, the member states of the European Union, Iceland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, San Marino, North Macedonia, Singapore, USA, Taiwan, Ukraine, Montenegro, Switzerland, Japan.
