Russia will green light on software piracy to ease sanctions pressure

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, punitive sanctions against Russia will have far-reaching consequences, including measures to limit Russia’s access to technology. The Russian president seems intent on demonstrating in the long-term that his country can mitigate the effects of sanctions in a number of ways, even if it means changing local laws, one of which is attitudes toward pirated software.

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Priority Program – Green Light on Software Piracy

Just a few of the measures being considered by the Kremlin are listed in a document drawn up by Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, titled “Priority Action Plan for Ensuring Russia’s Economic Development under Pressure from External Sanctions.” If the Russian government adopts the measures in the document, it will have a significant impact on copyright, patent and trademark owners who violate Russian interests.

The items listed in point 6.7.3 of this document attempt to address the issue of revocation or refusal to issue software licenses by foreign companies. Unlicensed software is illegal under current Russian law, but if the new measures are implemented, software piracy will go unpunished in Russia under certain circumstances.

Removal of liability in the Russian Federation for the use of unlicensed software owned by copyright holders in countries that support sanctions against Russia, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development wrote in the document.

The proposal covers civil and criminal liability arising from the use of pirated software (Administrative Offences Code and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and it also states that while being sanctioned, the government allows pirated software without Russian-made alternatives.

It’s unclear how services accessed through the cloud will be handled in the draft, but the overall goal is to smooth Russia’s transition from relying on foreign companies’ products to domestically developed solutions. Given the scale of this work, software piracy is likely to become a norm in Russia for years to come.

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