Pirated software in Russia and the world Unlicensed software

Arguments against the use of pirated software

Pirated software is counterfeit software ON that cybercriminals illegally copy and sell. They sell it Internet to gullible people, usually through or at cheap outlets.

Pirated software often looks like real software and is sometimes distributed in packaging that mimics the manufacturer's real packaging, however, unlike the licensed version, it can put your computer and personal data at risk. Counterfeit versions often contain viruses, spyware and phishing messages (asking for passwords or a phone number), which can lead to loss of information, damage to the system and even theft of personal data.

Do not forget about the advantages of licensed versions that the version downloaded from an unknown site cannot offer. Only computers with genuine software can get the critical updates they need to run reliably and protect against malicious files.

If you have licensed software installed on your computer, you must start the authentication process after you install it. During this operation, the result of the program activation is confirmed, and the system is monitored in order to identify attempts to hack or fake its individual components.

Activation and authentication processes do not collect user data or track users. The only purpose of the processes is to verify that the use of the software license complies with the license agreement.

With successful authentication, you can take advantage of all the benefits available exclusively to licensed software owners: the latest software updates, free templates, and more.

Supporters of piracy most often make arguments related to the high price of the licensed version. However, this is not the case. Look at the prices of licensed products - in fact, they are quite acceptable. Only professional software is really expensive, working on which professionals receive good money. If you are not doing something professionally, then it is not necessary to use this particular software. Many well-known programs have free counterparts that certainly do not have the full range of functions and capabilities of licensed products, but will definitely satisfy most of the needs.

Of course, you can rejoice that you did not pay a ruble for the desired program, but you calmly use it. But this joy will disappear as soon as problems begin with the malicious actions of unlicensed software, which can easily at least lead to the removal of the installed program and a new routine search for a "clean" version, or, very often, reinstalling the entire operating system. In addition, remember for starters how much time you spend looking for workable software versions on different sites.

By purchasing licensed software, you save your time - the most expensive thing we have, which is always missing. In this case, you can be sure that when you buy, you will get exactly what the developers intended, what you wanted to get, without "unpleasant bonuses." The licensed software product provides maximum stability, in case of failures of which you can contact technical support for help. Even if you do not use official technical support, but turn to another specialist, not every good qualified specialist wants to help you with illegal software.

Responsibility for using pirated software

Few people really realize, except for the developers themselves, that computer programs are copyright objects and are protected by current law. However, unlike Western countries, in Russia the use of illegal software is still the rule rather than the exception. Most PC users are not ready to accept the idea of ​ ​ buying expensive computer programs and prefer to use "pirated copies," thereby violating the legal rights of copyright holders.

What threatens the use of unlicensed software?

Civil liability

On the basis of Art. 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the copyright holder can sue for damages from a person who illegally used the result of intellectual activity. Instead of compensation for losses, he also has the right to demand, in accordance with Art. 1301 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, payment of compensation:

• in the amount of from 10,000 rubles to 5,000,000 rubles, determined at the discretion of the court;
• twice the cost of copies of the work or twice the cost of the right to use the work^[1].

Violators can be brought to these types of civil liability even when they have already been brought to criminal or administrative responsibility for this offense. In practice, such cases are even more common, since then the copyright holder does not need to prove the fact of violation of his rights.

Administrative liability

Administrative liability for these violations comes in accordance with Article 7.12 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation "Violation of copyright and related rights, inventive and patent rights." According to it, the import, sale, rental or other illegal use of copies of works or phonograms for the purpose of extracting income, if they are counterfeit or false information is indicated on them, entails a fine with confiscation of counterfeit copies of works and phonograms, as well as materials and equipment used for their reproduction, and other tools for committing an administrative offense. The penalty shall be determined as follows:

• for citizens - a fine in the amount of 1,500 to 2,000 rubles; plus confiscation of equipment,
• for officials - a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rubles; plus confiscation of equipment,
• for legal entities - a fine of 30,000 to 40,000 rubles; plus confiscation of equipment.

Criminal liability

Criminal prosecution for the use of unlicensed software is carried out on the basis of Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Violation of copyright and related rights." In accordance with Part 2 of this article, the illegal use of copyright objects or related rights, as well as the acquisition, storage, transportation of counterfeit copies of works or phonograms for sales purposes, committed on a large scale, entails one of the following penalties:

• a fine of up to 200,000 rubles or in the amount of the convict's salary/other income for a period of up to 18 months;
• compulsory work for up to 480 hours;
• correctional works for up to 2 years;
• forced labor for up to 2 years;
• imprisonment for up to 2 years

A note to Art. 146 of the Criminal Code. We can conclude from it that criminal liability will occur in cases where the cost of used unlicensed software or rights to it exceeds 100,000 rubles. It should also be added here that acts are recognized as committed on an especially large scale if the specified cost exceeds 1,000,000 rubles. In other cases, i.e. if the amount of damage is less than 100,000 rubles, the offender is subject to administrative responsibility.

Anti-Pirate Recommendations

• The main recommendation: to use licensed software at enterprises.
• Audit the used at the enterprise, software and this should be done not by your system administrators, but by employees of third-party organizations who specialize in this. The purpose of the audit is to understand which software is used, whether there is unlicensed among it, so that if law enforcement agencies conduct an audit, there are no surprises.
• In the case of a large number of computers in use, implement a license management system in the enterprise.
• When purchasing software, keep all documents about this and even correspondence with the software seller.
• Resolve the issue of installing the purchased software for accounting.
• In separate subdivisions (branches, representative offices) or affiliates, have notarized documents confirming the legality of the purchase and use of software.
• Have a set of documents already prepared at the enterprise confirming the legality of using the software so that, in the event of an audit, immediately provide documents to the inspectors in order to avoid the seizure of computers.
• If any documents confirming the legality of using the software are drawn up in a foreign language, it is necessary to make a translation of such documents in advance, and its notarization will not be superfluous.

What evidence of the licensed cleanliness of the installed software is needed when checking?

Any person or organization may be the object of attention of state bodies engaged in the identification and suppression of the facts of violation of copyright and related rights in the field of information technology. As a rule, all relevant checks are carried out within the framework of the law "On operational-search activities," and any operative of the internal affairs body has the right to carry them out. But in practice, 2 units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are engaged in this: OBEP/UBEP or "K" management.

According to the established practice, based on the laws, it is necessary to present ON the following for each name:

• The first part is the evidence established by the copyright holder, for example: agreement, certificate of authenticity, media, box, sticker, etc. For Microsoft software, everything is painted on Microsoft4you.ru
• The second part of the evidence consists of correctly executed documents that prove the legality of the financial and economic operation from the point of view of the Law. This, depending on the method of acquisition, may be:
  • Documents for software purchased in cash (seller's checks, your cash documents).
  • Documents for gratuitous transfer: donation, transfer to an affiliated person, transfer upon re-registration of a legal entity, etc.
  • Federal deals with special status are subject to their rules. Schools for the Standard Basic Software Package (SPPO) must have an SPPO certificate from FAO and a SPPO handover form.
  • Documents for software purchased for non-cash payments must be present standard, according to the rules that existed at the time of the transaction. Usually these are supply contracts and relevant certificates, consignments, etc.
  • Even under a cashless transaction, with the rarest exception, there should be a license agreement. Software without VAT is allowed to be sold only if there is a license agreement.

As we can see, a fairly impressive list of necessary evidence of the licensing of the software product. If suddenly there is reason to fear such a thorough check, it is best to check in advance whether everything is in order with documents and other attributes of the license agreement. In the absence of such evidence, and as a result, confidence in the legitimate use of the software, we recommend thinking about purchasing licensed products from official ^[2]

Types of computer piracy

Computer piracy usually refers to software copyright infringement. Nowadays, a huge number of users one way or another turn out to be "accomplices" of computer pirates. So, users who like to copy and distribute unlicensed, pirated programs should understand that by their actions they cause material damage to the creators of the software. Computer piracy can be of different types, depending on the methods used.

• Soft-lifting - when one licensed software is installed on several computers at once, violating the terms of the agreement. This type of piracy is common not only in companies and organizations, but even in universities and schools.
• Non-imitated client access - when organizations create copies of licensed software on servers, thereby providing free access to software to company customers. As a result, customers have full access to the software within the corporate network. This is a direct violation of the agreement, which, unfortunately, is practiced more and more often.
• Downloading software to the hard drive - if a company or organization sells computers with pre-installed software, such actions also qualify as piracy, and serious. Nevertheless, in order to increase the number of customers, more companies are engaged in this business. Therefore, when purchasing a computer, be sure to ask the seller about the software installed on the computer.
• Piracy against OEM programs/understaffing. OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) -Programs are legal only when sold with certain equipment. If these programs are copied and sold separately from this equipment, such actions violate the distribution contract between the equipment supplier and the software publisher. The similar term "unbundling" refers to the act of selling programs separately, when these programs can be sold legally only in a set with other products. Programs labeled "not for resale" are often just such "bundled" applications.
• Commercial use of non-commercial software. The use of software with an educational (academic) or limited commercial use license in violation of the terms of the license for this software is a form of software piracy. Software companies often release special non-commercial software aimed at a specific audience. For example, many software manufacturers sell academic versions of their products to comprehensive schools, universities, and other educational institutions. In most cases, significant discounts are provided for such software due to the direction of activity and educational status of such organizations.
• Fake. Counterfeiting or making counterfeit products is the replication of illegal copies of licensed software, carried out in such a way as to try to pass off an illegal copy as a legally pure copy made or authorized by an official publisher.
• Piracy using CD\DVDs. This is illegal copying of software using technologies to write data to disks. This form of piracy occurs when someone receives a copy of a software product, then makes a copy of it or copies for distribution to their friends, or for resale. Although the concepts of disk piracy and the manufacture of counterfeit products overlap slightly, in this case there is no attempt to pass off an illegal copy as a legal copy - the disks may have handwritten inscriptions, and there may not be documentation at all. Once disc recording hardware became relatively inexpensive, the software industry was hard hit by this new form of end-user piracy.
• Internet piracy. Internet piracy is the placement of commercial software products (i.e. programs that are not in the public domain or subject to free distribution) on the Internet so that anyone can download or copy this commercial software using any Internet service. Internet piracy also includes opening access to counterfeit software or putting it up for sale over the Internet

2023

Internet pirates in Russia want to plant for 8 years

In early October 2023, it became known that the National Federation of the Music Industry (NFMI) proposes to tighten liability for copyright infringement on the Internet. In the Criminal Code for pirates, a separate corpus delicti may appear with a more severe punishment than now. In addition, the authors of the project want to expand the criteria for assessing damage.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the NFMI initiative is a response to the draft amendments to the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on copyright infringement prepared by the Ministry of Justice (Article 146). The agency comes up with the idea of ​ ​ raising the threshold for criminal liability from 100 thousand rubles to 500 thousand rubles, and the bar of a particularly large size - from 1 million rubles to 2 million rubles. According to copyright holders, such changes will lead to a mitigation of punishment for Internet pirates.

The NFMI notes that the article on copyright infringement "is actually inaccessible to copyright holders to combat digital piracy," and most of the cases initiated under it over the past 15 years (by 2023) relate to counterfeit goods and products on physical media. Therefore, the association considers it necessary to introduce a separate composition of the same article for cases of "deliberate illegal use of copyright objects on the Internet." At the same time, it is proposed to increase the maximum term of imprisonment for Internet pirates from two to three years with a large amount of damage and from three to eight years with especially large damage.

The amendments of the Ministry of Justice are opposed by the Association of Computer and Information Technology Enterprises (APKIT), the Association of Software Product Developers (ARPP) "Domestic Software" and the Non-Profit Partnership of Software Product Suppliers (NP SPP). In their opinion, this increase in the threshold for liability will lead to the fact that "no more than 3-5% of the names of the most expensive software products" will remain under legal protection. The named associations offer a compromise option - 200 thousand rubles.^[3]

Ministry of Justice proposed to decriminalize "pirates" software

The bill, which amends the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, was published on the portal of draft regulatory legal acts. The changes relate to Article 146 of the Criminal Code (violation of copyright and related rights - a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles. or up to two years in prison) and Article 165 of the Criminal Code (causing property damage by deception or breach of trust - a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles. or up to six years in prison). This was announced on September 21, 2023 by the press service of the State Duma deputy RFAnton Nemkin.

According to the project, the threshold at which a crime under Article 146 is considered committed on a large and especially large scale will increase from 100 thousand to 500 thousand and from 1 million to 2 million, respectively. In the case of Article 165 of the Criminal Code, the department also plans to raise the threshold for large damage from 250 thousand to 1 million rubles, and especially large - from 1 million to 4 million rubles. According to the forecast of the department, it is planned to decriminalize up to 26% of rights violations.

There are practically no cases of foreign software - they are isolated by copyright holders who continue to work in Russia, said Dmitry Sokolov, director of the Association of Software Suppliers (Association of NP SPP).

In 2022, we faced both an increase in sanctions pressure and a phenomenon - the departure of a number of Western companies from the Russian market. And this, of course, is a big impetus for the development of import independence countries in all spheres of life: from the full cycle of production of our own computers to the development of cinematography, - said the deputy.

Nevertheless, the achievement of import independence is not a matter of a single year, noted Anton Nemkin. {{quote 'Import independence is a long-term goal of Russia, which involves two important points. On the one hand, we must create a solid foundation, thanks to which the sectors of our economy will successfully develop. The key point of such a foundation is an effective regulatory environment that will work "on," not against. On the other hand, we must prevent a possible deficit. This is especially important for technology companies that physically cannot instantly rebuild to domestic software or, for example, for the entertainment industry. Let me remind you that cinemas were significantly affected during the pandemic and faced another challenges in 2022. In this case, the decriminalization of copyright violations is, of course, a logical and justified step. Let me remind you that the State Duma not so long ago adopted in the first reading amendments to the Civil Code, which mitigate liability in violation. The Ministry of Digital Industry of Russia is also discussing the cancellation of blocking sites that show video content of Western companies that are not officially represented in the Russian Federation, - said Anton Nemkin.}}

The main thing is to clearly understand that the measures taken act exclusively in the interests of consumers and Russian companies, says Anton Nemkin.

2022

The State Duma wants to create a department for the trade in pirated content

The State Duma wants to create a department for trading pirated content. This became known on October 14, 2022.

The structure will help combat the discrimination that Russians are subjected to due to the sanctions imposed by the West.

Deputy Artem Kiryanov considers this a response to discrimination against Russians.

The agency will collect the necessary content without any payments and respect for the copyright of unfriendly to. RUSSIAN FEDERATION countries Then, the content will become available on a paid basis to users. Under the current conditions, this solution can be optimal.

If the copyright holders of this or that content refuse us, we should not be afraid to take responsibility for the fact that we really will have this content in one way or another, - said Artem Kiryanov[4].

Russian software manufacturers are categorically against the legalization of foreign software

As it became known on September 12, 2022, Russian manufacturers software do not support the forced legalization of foreign. software Writes about this "" Kommersant with reference to the review (Association of Software Product Developers (ARPP) "Domestic Software" unites 240 Russian developers) to the bill of the deputy from State Dumas the party "Fair - For Russia Truth" (SRZP). Dmitry Kuznetsov

This bill involves obtaining in court a compulsory license for the use of copyright products of foreign companies from unfriendly countries. According to the author of the initiative, in the case "when a foreign copyright holder or his Russian representative unreasonably terminated the license agreement," the user can obtain a compulsory license on the conditions previously agreed with the copyright holder through the courts.

The mechanism for using content from unfriendly countries, in fact, without the permission of the copyright holder, "carries great risks both for users and for Russian developers," follows from the withdrawal of the ARPP to this bill. Even if a Russian company receives a license for foreign software through the court, its use without the support of the rights owner can lead to vulnerabilities, said the head of Domestic Software Renat Lashin.

The association does not exclude that in other countries they may introduce a similar mechanism in relation to Russian software, followed by a "repeated outflow of IT specialists abroad."

Anatoly Semenov, deputy head of the working group for work on the bill, deputy chairman of the RSPP committee on intellectual property, said that he did not agree with the arguments of the ARPP. He said that the purpose of the amendments is to allow the consumer to legally use the software he needs.

If a user wants to use foreign software and if he has specialists who will help him ensure security and the absence of vulnerabilities, why should we decide for him? - said Semenov.[5]

Russian industry IT associations expressed their position on the initiative of exemption from liability for the use of unlicensed software

Heads of industry associations Nikolai Komlev (APKIT), Renat Lashin (ARPP "Fatherland Software"), Dmitry Sokolov (Association of NP PPP), Valentin Makarov ("Russoft") sent a letter^[6] the Minister of Digital Development RFMaksut Shadayev. We give its text in full.

Under the conditions of sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, the domestic IT-Business are subjected to increasing targeted economic pressure from external forces.

In these difficult conditions, we became aware of initiatives (bills and other by-laws) to exempt from liability for the use of unlicensed software. According to our associations, such initiatives will have obvious and instant negative consequences for the state exchange rate for import substitution and for the fate of the domestic IT-Business.

We express our gratitude for your position and negative attitude of the Ministry to such initiatives and assure that our associations, which unite most of the Russian software developers, consider such initiatives extremely destructive and dangerous for the following reasons:

Permission in one form or another of illegal use of a foreign ON one instantly makes it actually free - get almost for nothing "pirated software" and use it without fear of liability for a clear violation of the law. Domestic developments, for which you still need to pay, will be very difficult to compete with high-quality and familiar "free" foreign products for users. This, both in the short and long term, negates our focus states on import substitution and not only preserves technological dependence, countries but also strengthens it. For domestic software developers, this threatens to destroy the business, since it is impossible to compete with the now free foreign counterparts.

It should also be expected that the response of countries, even in the post-sanction period, will be either a symmetrical permission to free use of Russian software abroad, or, most likely, a complete ban on its use. Such restrictions on the foreign market, which further worsen the situation of domestic developers, are able to motivate developers to travel abroad.

Our expert community proposes to consider more subtle tuning measures, the combination of which could contribute to both the preservation of sustainable development of Russian developers and the preservation of the import substitution rate. We are ready to submit our proposals and ask you to involve experts from the IT community represented by our associations to finalize measures to respond to the actions of foreign countries and copyright holders^[7].

Prosecution for using unlicensed software may be canceled in Russia

On March 5, 2022, information appeared that Russia the prosecution for the use of unlicensed (pirated), software"owned by the copyright holder of those countries who supported" sanctions against Russia, could be canceled. This is stated in the "Plan of Priority Actions to Ensure Development of the Russian economy under External Sanctions Pressure," prepared on March 2, 2022.

According to the source, this plan is the fruit of the work of specialists from a number of Russian departments. He did not specify who exactly worked on the document, but noted that Russia had already begun to implement some of the measures given in it.

Against the background of the current geopolitical situation, dozens of foreign companies left Russia in just a few days. Among them was the American Microsoft, the developer of a common OS (Windows) and a very popular suite of office programs (Office).

The document says that in Russia it is necessary to introduce a mechanism of the so-called "forced licensing," which will act in relation to "software, databases and topologies for integrated circuits." If the initiative is implemented, then all of the above will fall under Art. 1360 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (use of an invention, utility model or industrial model in the interests of national security).

According to this article, the Russian Government can "in case of emergency related to ensuring the defense and security of the state, protecting the life and health of citizens" decide "on the use of an invention, utility model or industrial model without the consent of the patent holder with notification of this as soon as possible and with the payment of proportionate compensation to him."

For March 2022, Russian legislation provides for a number of sanctions for the use of pirated programs, regardless of where they were developed - in Russia or abroad. Depending on the specific case, the punishment can be both administrative and criminal.

According to the "Plan," due to the current situation, the authorities want to completely abolish criminal and administrative liability in Russia for the use of unlicensed software in Russia, "owned by the copyright holder from the countries that supported the sanctions." This may mean that it will be possible to "pirate" only foreign software and only from those countries that have taken up arms against Russia. It will probably still be impossible to use domestic developments with impunity.

For their part, representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation on March 5, 2022 announced that they had not made proposals for exemption from liability for the use of unlicensed software and did not support them. The agency plans to hold a discussion with the Ministry of Economic Development of this issue.

The Ministry of Digital Development is in favor of stimulating the transition to Russian software. The proposals that the Russian Ministry of Digital Development submitted to the plan of support for the IT industry directly arise from the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 2, 2022 No. 83, the department emphasized.

2021

Director of the Ural plant sentenced to a year in prison for using the pirated version of Compass - 3D software

At the end of November 2021, the Asbestovsky Court of the Sverdlovsk Region sentenced Ivan Krasnourchenko, director of UZKO LLC (Ural Boiler Equipment Plant), to one year in a general regime colony for using pirated software. Read more here.

Woman gets prison sentence for installing pirated Windows and Office

In early June 2021, it became known that in Spain a woman was sentenced to prison for using pirated versions of Windows and Office. According to the published information, she used hacked versions of the software on two computers in her office.

Microsoft is actively fighting the unauthorized use of its software in Spain and is attracting local courts to do so. The first time a judgment in this case was made back in 2017. From that moment on, the woman twice tried to appeal the court decision, but she could not escape punishment.

The woman is known to have been caught using pirated versions of Windows and Office on two of the eight computers in her Madrid office offering international phone calls. The Spanish Supreme Court also upheld a $4,400 fine imposed by a Madrid court and ordered the woman to pay Microsoft the cost of licenses for pirated software she used in her institution.

The Spanish edition of El Mundo reports that this is the first sentence handed down by the country's supreme court in the case of piracy of intellectual property. At the same time, the Spanish court relied on the reform of the country's Criminal Code, which was carried out in 2015. From that moment in Spain, the commercial use of unlicensed products and services is considered a criminal offense.

It is unclear whether Microsoft will also actively fight users who use unlicensed Windows software not for business, but for personal purposes. Other companies, as a rule, go to court with claims only against commercial hacker applications, without considering cases of personal use.^[9]

2020: From October 1, Russia wants to introduce blocking of pirated mobile applications

On May 26, 2020, it became known that the State Duma passed the second reading of the bill, which amends the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection." If it is approved in the third reading, the Federation Council will consider it and the president will sign it, then from October 1, 2020 in Russia it will be possible to block any application for Android and iOS through the court if they prove that it is pirated or a complaint will be received. Read more here.

2019: Black Microsoft Software Implementers Arrested

In late April 2019, the Delhi Police arrested three people posing as Microsoft employees in an operation conducted by a special crime investigation team.

The operation was the end of the investigation initiated by the Delhi police on the complaint of Neeraj Kumar, an authorized representative of Microsoft Corporation. Neeraj Kumar reported that an unknown syndicate impersonates Microsoft employees to sell pirated software.

Police also learned the suspects were carrying out an operation to sell counterfeit software, including Windows 10, to nearby schools. After receiving this tip-off, a special crime investigation team raided the syndicate headquarters and arrested everyone who was there.

The defendants disclosed that their accomplice Abhinav Jain had a license to sell software to Microsoft and was supposed to train new employees of the company. However, in pursuit of quick money, they began forging letters from Microsoft Corporation and sending them to school leaders. This letter was accompanied by a second, with a warning allegedly received from the police. Criminals forced schools to buy software from them in bulk.

The accused sold pirated software to schools several times - they attended educational institutions, posing as authorized representatives of Microsoft, checked existing software and threatened to convey it to outdated ones. Fearing punishment, the management of more than a hundred schools purchased software from the gang in bulk.

During the raid, the police also seized three hard drives, two printers, business cards with Microsoft symbols, Windows 10 Pro software, fake letters and mobile phones.^[10]

2018

Developers warn of increased pirated software due to FSB bill

In July 2018, it became known about the risks of distributing pirated software due to the FSB bill. Market participants fear a blur of wording in the agency's initiative.

We are talking about the draft amendments to the Criminal Code, introducing the definition of "spy" technical means with which you can secretly receive information. Thus, it is supposed to separate espionage equipment from household appliances. Initially, a case against a Kurgan farmer who bought a GPS tracker for his cow led to the development of the bill. The story received publicity after a complaint to President Vladimir Putin.

By July 2018, Article 138.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability for illegal trafficking in funds for secretly obtaining information in the form of restriction of freedom for up to four years, a fine or forced labor.

The Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation for the Development of Information Technologies and the Digital Economy will send proposals to the FSB to the bill on funds developed by the service for secretly obtaining information, Nikolai Komlev, chairman of the council, told the Kommersant newspaper. According to him, the definition of technical means proposed in the bill, with the help of which you can secretly receive information, applies, among other things, to software. It was "deliberately given qualities and properties to provide the function of covert information acquisition," Komlev said.

He believes that the project could affect software developers who use monitoring systems to receive feedback from users or monitor possible hacks of their programs.

According to Komlev, the bill in the form proposed by the FSB will increase the number of pirated software, prevent developers from protecting their intellectual rights, and will also threaten them with criminal liability for secretly obtaining information.^[11]

BSA: Russia gets rid of illegal software several times faster than other CIS countries

The Association of Manufacturers software BSA conducted a study of the unlicensed software market around the world. It was published on June 5 on the official website of the BSA Global Software Survey.

According to the study, about 62% of organizations in Russia use unlicensed software. The counterfeit software market amounted to $1.3 billion. Russia took the leading place in Europe in this indicator, more than three times ahead of Poland.

However, the leadership in the cost of unlicensed software belongs to the United States: $8.6 billion of such programs are installed on American computers. The second place was taken by China with a result of 6.8 billion.

Countries, Europe which include Russia, showed the most significant level of falling piracy - 8% in two years. The total volume of unlicensed software continues, albeit slowly, but decreases: over the past two years in Russia, it has decreased by two percent. The same trend can be traced around the world. The highest rate of distribution of pirated programs was recorded in Venezuela and Zimbabwe: 89%. According to this indicator, Russia was on a par with Brunei, Peru and Macedonia.

According to the association, for business, the transition to licensed software and software asset management (SAM, Software Asset Management) processes can actually lead to a reduction in IT infrastructure costs due to a more flexible and operational approach. Companies that have implemented such solutions can increase revenue by up to 11%, experts say.

At the end of 2017, about 62% of all software used on personal computers in Russia was unlicensed. In 2015, this figure was 64%, in 2013 - 62%, in 2011 - 63%, in 2010 - 65%, in 2009 - 67%, and in 2008 - 68%. The steepest decline in the share of unlicensed software was observed between 2006 and 2007, when the figure fell from 80% to 73%^[12].

At the same time in 2003-2004. the share of illegal software in Russia reached 87%. Thus, according to the results of 2017, we can talk about a decrease in the indicator by 25 percentage points over 14 years. At the same time, it is at the level of 2013. Such conclusions were reached by the association of software manufacturers BSA, which released a report on the level of software piracy in Russia and the world.

The cost of unlicensed software used on PCs in Russia in 2017 amounted to $1.291 billion. In 2015, this figure was at the level of $1.341 billion, in 2013 - at the level of $2.658 billion, in 2011 amounted to $3.227 billion, in 2010 - $2.842 billion, and in 2009 - $2.613 billion. The highest cost of unlicensed software in Russia was observed in 2007 and 2008, when it amounted to $4.123 billion and $4.215 billion, respectively. Compared to these figures, we can talk about a drop in this indicator in 2017 by more than three times in 10 years.

Other CIS countries

In the CIS countries closest to Russia, unlicensed software as of 2017 was in wider use. For example, in Ukraine, its share was 80% of all software installed on a PC, and the cost was estimated at $108 million. The indicator has consistently decreased since 2010, when it reached 86%, before that there was an increase from 83% in 2007. In 2003-2004. the share of unlicensed software on PCs in Ukraine was at the level of 91%, that is, over 14 years, the indicator decreased by 11 percentage points.

In Belarus, the share of unlicensed software used on PCs in 2017 reached 82%, and its cost was estimated at $59 million. In 2015, the share of illegal software in this country was at the level of 85%, in 2013 - 86%, in 2011 - 87%, in 2010 - 88%, and in 2009 - 87%. Until 2009, the BSA did not assess the situation in Belarus, but we can conclude that over the past eight years, the figure has fallen by five percentage points.

The situation in the world

As of 2017, 37% of software installed on PCs worldwide was unlicensed. There is a decrease in this indicator compared to 2015, when it was 39%. In 2013, the share of illegal software in the world reached 43%, in 2011 - 42%. The cost of unlicensed software used in the world as of 2017 reached $46.3 billion.

The first place in the use of unlicensed software is shared by the Asia-Pacific region and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe - here the share of illegal software reaches 57%. In the Middle East and Africa, this figure is 56%, in Latin America - 52%, in Western Europe - 26%, in North America - 16%.

The cost of illegal software installed in the Asia-Pacific region reaches $16.4 billion, in Western Europe and North America - $9.5 billion each, in Latin America - $5 billion, in the Middle East and Africa - $3.1 billion, in Central and Eastern Europe - $2.9 billion.

Settlement of piracy dispute between InBev and SAP

In March 2018, it became known about the settlement of the Anheuser-Busch InBev lawsuit with SAP, which accused the world's largest brewing company of piracy. Read more here.

2017

The ban on "piracy" on the Internet does not increase legal sales

Removing pirated copies of online books from the market has practically no effect on the sale of their legal copies. This conclusion was reached by researchers from the University of Warsaw: team head Michał Krawczyk and two other employees of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, Wojciech Hardy and Joanna Tyrowicz^[13].

Their experiment involved 240 books of various genres available on the Polish market in 2016. The books were published by ten companies that agreed to take part in the experiment. Scientists have agreed with an agency specializing in research activities to remove pirated copies of 120 of these books from the Internet, according to the Polish news agency PAP.

This created serious difficulties for users looking for pirated copies of these books. But contrary to the expectations of publishers, there was no significant increase in sales of these books. The results of the study will be presented in The Economic Journal. It is a continuation of the work "Internet Piracy and Book Sales: A Field Experiment," which was published in English in 2014.

Mikołaj Malaczyński (Mikołaj Małaczyński), president and co-founder of the Polish e-book subscription program Legimi, named Publishing Perspectives as a possible reason for this result. According to him, the most popular source of pirated copies of books is not sites available through search engines, but closed groups formed in various social networks. Their users exchange links to cloud online services where books are posted. Such groups cannot be tracked by conventional monitoring tools.

BSA data

According to the results of research by the BSA association, which represents the interests of the world's largest software developers, 85% of the software installed on computers in Belarus is unlicensed. In neighboring countries, this level is lower: in Russia it is 64%, in Latvia - 49%, in Lithuania - 51%, in Poland - 48%, in Estonia - 42%.

TAdviser study

Downloading unlicensed software on the Internet remains a scourge of Russian business. The level of its use remains high - 64% - this figure was deduced by IDC experts. The TAdviser study found that in small and medium-sized businesses, executives consider the issue of cybersecurity to be key. As a result, 58% of such enterprises have restrictions on the independent installation of programs. However, despite all this, almost half of the employees working in this segment - 43% - admit that they have downloaded unlicensed software on the Internet at least once. They also practice the use of personal devices at work and remote access to corporate applications. At the same time, less than a third of companies (27%) have truly workable multi-level protection. Such actions at least carry a serious threat to information security.

IDC analysts see a direct relationship between the use of unlicensed software and an increase in the frequency of infections of enterprise IT systems with malicious code, as well as the number of hacker attacks. TAdviser specialists confirm this data: four out of five companies in the Russian segment of small and medium-sized businesses (82%) at least once crashed working applications, mail and other individual components, or the entire system as a whole. 27% of respondents admitted that this happens more often than once a month.

Thus, the level of security of companies depends on the competent management of IT assets. SAM projects are considered the key way to audit such management, the purpose of which is to protect investments in IT projects and understand what software assets an organization has, where and how effectively they are used.

2014

Microsoft: monitoring the level of distribution of unlicensed software in computer retail in Russia

The results of the next wave of the Mysterious Buyer program, which covered 3,000 outlets in 94 Russian cities, showed: 19% of them recommend users to install unlicensed programs on their own or offer a "bonus" in the form of a full set of pirated programs for free or for the cost of services for its installation.

Compared to 2013, this figure increased by 3.9 percentage points mainly due to recommendations to purchase (download) and install unlicensed programs on their own. The growing share of pirated outlets in computer retail is the result of underestimation by sellers and buyers of all risks of using unlicensed software: technical, financial, legal and reputational.

Using tips for purchasing counterfeit software, the buyer is at risk. At risk is the safety of personal information: passport data, passwords, credit card numbers, bank accounts and phones, photo archives. The consequences can be different: it is quite possible to lose funds in bank accounts. Users of unlicensed software are increasingly becoming unwitting distributors of dubious content or participants in hacker attacks, as an attacker can gain access to a personal computer or social network account without the owner's knowledge.

In addition to computer malfunctions and the loss of information stored on the PC for both retailers and users, the legal consequences of "purchasing" counterfeit software are possible.

Counterfeit software offers vary significantly by region. A noticeable decrease in the share of offers of unlicensed software was noted only in Moscow - from 24.8% to 19.5% (in the previous wave of the program: from 33% to 24.8%). Such results have been achieved thanks to the joint efforts of law enforcement agencies and copyright holders. Nevertheless, relative to other regions, the level of piracy in the capital and the Moscow region is still high: 19.5% of outlets continue to recommend pirated software, and 10% of stores offer to install unlicensed programs right on the spot.

In the context of federal districts, only the Central Federal District demonstrated positive dynamics in terms of the main indicator, the share of points that proposed the installation of pirated software by improving the situation in Moscow.

The levels of distribution of unlicensed software in the Volga and Far Eastern districts remain high. The relatively low level of counterfeit software supply was once again noted in the North-West Federal District. In the Central region as a whole, as well as in total in the Southern and North Caucasus districts, installation proposals are also lower than the national average, but there is a high proportion of points recommending pirated software, which is especially different for some cities of the North Caucasus.

In cities with a population of one million, the highest level of pirated offers is observed in Volgograd (34.5%), Irkutsk (30.2%), Nizhny Novgorod and Chelyabinsk (20%), Khabarovsk (17.7%), and the lowest - in Novosibirsk (6.5%) and St. Petersburg (7.8%).

Joint efforts of law enforcement agencies, specialized public organizations (NP SPP, BSA, APKP) and copyright holders make it possible to effectively fight and suppress the activities of pirates. The Mysterious Buyer program also contributes.

IDC: Russian business will lose $20 billion due to pirated software in 2014

March 26, 2014 IDC spoke about the results of the second commissioned study, Microsoft about the use of counterfeit by ON home and corporate users. The study was conducted in December-February 2014. In its course, 1,150 home users and the same number of corporate users were interviewed in 11 countries, including. Of Russia these, the latter accounted for 260 home and corporate users.

According to IDC estimates, in 2014 Russian companies will spend about $5 billion on eliminating the consequences of technical risks from using pirated software - problem detection and data recovery. Last year, analysts estimated the cost of one such incident at $1.075, and this year it has grown by 10%, says Timur Farukshin, director of consulting at IDC's Russian office.

IDC predicts that an even larger amount - about $15 billion - in Russia, companies will lose from data leakage if 1 out of 1000 infected unlicensed programs lead to it.

Speaking about the sources of the appearance of pirated software in companies, IDC cites data that in Russia about 30% of enterprise employees install extraneous software on their PCs without the knowledge of their organization. The distribution of pirated software is also facilitated by insufficient control by the IT services of organizations. So, according to IDC, only 14% of companies audit user PCs every day for counterfeit software.

Analysts note that at the same time, every third of the surveyed users said that he experienced problems with software independently installed on a PC, and IT managers, in turn, cite data that about 60% of all software failures occur due to counterfeit programs installed on user PCs.

Another common reason for the appearance of malware on office computers is the purchase of them often in channels that do not guarantee 100% legality of the software installed on them: in small computer stores and in computer markets. The survey showed that 52% of Russian enterprises purchase computers through such channels.

After purchasing more than 200 computers at similar points and examining them, IDC found that 56% of them contain pre-installed software with malicious code. This mainly applies to Windows.

For home users in Russia, in turn, the damage from the use of unlicensed software in 2014 in IDC is estimated at $1.1 billion and 80 million hours. The problems associated with its use on home and business PCs are similar, analysts say. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the update of security functions on computers is often ignored: according to an IDC survey, 53% of home users and 28% of IT managers neglect them in Russia.

According to software the BSA Global Software Survey, conducted by IDC by order of the BSA Software Manufacturers Association|The Software Alliance, the level of use of unlicensed software in Russia is significantly higher than in other developed countries. In a survey of about 22,000 individual and corporate PC users and more than 2,000 IT managers from 34 countries, analysts found that in countries North America this figure is 19%, among countries Europe the situation is worse in France countries where about 45% of respondents use unlicensed software. In Russia, despite a significant improvement in the situation in this area in recent years, the level of use of unlicensed software is 62%^[14]

If we consider the situation in Russia in the context of the regions, then the worst situation is in the Ural Federal District - here unlicensed software is installed on 68% of computers. The most prosperous, according to the study, are the Northwestern and Southern federal districts, the level of use of unlicensed software in which is 5-6% lower than the national average.

IDC analysts call the purchase of computer equipment without preinstalled software or independent assembly of components as the main reasons for such a high level of use of illegal software among private users. As for organizations, here the indicator is directly related to whether its employees can independently install software at their workplaces, whether the organization has a clearly spelled out software licensing policy, whether it conducts an audit of the software's licensed cleanliness, and whether the software asset management system is used - SAM (Software Asset Management). Currently, according to the study, the basic elements of such a system are implemented on average in only 17% of organizations in Russia.

According to the same study, IT system failures are least likely to occur in organizations in the Southern and Northwestern federal districts, which correlates with the lowest level of unlicensed software use.

In the course of the study, IDC analysts found out how relevant for Russian users are certain threats associated with the use of unlicensed software. According to respondents, the most unpleasant may be legal consequences. They are followed by financial and reputation risks. Technical problems that may arise due to the use of unlicensed software occupy the last place in terms of significance for Russian users.

If we consider the arguments in favor of refusing to use unlicensed software in more detail, then according to a survey of Chief information officers, 55% of them believe that it poses a security risk, 32% say there is no support from developers, 31% - about reputational risks.

2013

The Internet is becoming the main source of pirated software

On March 20, 2013 , IDC announced for the first time the forecast of how much damage in absolute terms can cause organizations to use counterfeit software. As part of a related global study commissioned by Microsoft, the agency interviewed about a thousand corporate users and about 270 Chief information officers.

For Russian organizations, in particular, according to analysts, the potential direct damage from the use of pirated software in 2013 could amount to more than $4 billion if one of the thousands of infected counterfeit programs installed on corporate computers causes a data leak.

This amount was calculated based on the costs of the organization for the discovery, determination and recovery of data in case of their leakage due to counterfeit software, explain in IDC. One such incident, according to IDC estimates, costs the organization $1.075.

According to analysts, the main source of counterfeit software at this time for Russian and world users is the Internet. Other sources are dying off, the IDC says. At the same time, approximately 76% of all sites and file-sharing networks from which software is downloaded are trying to install malware on a user computer, installed in IDC.

24% of Russian Chief information officers surveyed by analysts replied that in their companies employees install their own software on their PCs. It is noteworthy that 62% of the employees themselves responded in the same way.

IDC also notes that most malicious code distributed via the Internet exploits existing vulnerabilities in software that developers fix with released updates. At the same time, 16% of Chief information officers do not use the automatic software update function on corporate computers, the IDC survey showed.

The use of pirated software in the first half of 2013 cost Russian companies 38 million rubles

The expenses of Russian companies for the settlement of relations with copyright holders in connection with the illegal use of software participating companies BSA and the legalization of software amounted to approximately 38 million (rubles more than 1.17 million). dollars USA

The settlement expenses of companies tested for the use of unlicensed software during "civil inspections" in the first half of 2013 amounted to more than 2.4 million rubles. "Civil inspections" is a law enforcement practice that has been developing in Russia since 2011, during which the availability of licenses for programs is checked not by the police, but by a bailiff with the participation of a technical specialist and a representative of copyright holders. The most ambitious was the inspection of SibirDorProekt LLC, which is engaged in design and construction in Novosibirsk. During the audit conducted in April of this year, the fact of illegally installed software of BSA member companies for a total amount of more than 1.4 million rubles was revealed. As a result of the settlement, the company pledged to pay compensation for copyright infringement in the amount of 1.6 million rubles.

Another notable case was the inspection of the Yekaterinburg company Altek Stroy Project LLC, as a result of which an amicable agreement was signed in the amount of 500 thousand rubles, and software was legalized for more than 300 thousand rubles.

Law enforcement activities of BSA in the first half of 2013 were most actively carried out in such cities as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, and in a number of other regions.

Thus, the signing of an amicable agreement ended in Krasnodar a two-year trial in the case of illegal use of software by BSA member companies by the closed joint-stock company Orbita. According to the terms of the settlement agreement, the company pledged to pay compensation for copyright infringement in the amount of 5.3 million rubles.

In the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) in the first half of 2013, the total expenses of companies for the settlement of relations with copyright holders in connection with the illegal use of software amounted to about $5.9 million.

The volume of fines paid for pirated software in Russia has decreased

According to the Association of Manufacturers, in ON BSA 2013 the expenses of Russian companies for the settlement of relations with copyright holders in connection with the illegal use of software its participating companies and the legalization of software amounted to approximately 67 million rubles.

At the end of 2012, the amount of compensation paid for pirated software, according to BSA, exceeded 73 million rubles. A slight decrease in volumes in 2013 in BSA was explained to TAdviser by a reduction in proactive police inspections - when the police check companies as part of their own operational-search activities, and not according to the statements of copyright holders.

"Police checks remain the main way to suppress cases of computer piracy, and civil and prosecutor's checks, which our association is actively developing, are just an addition," says BSA spokesman Aleksei Chyorny.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs on economic crime, in 2013 there were 27.8% fewer violations in the field of copyright and related rights than a year earlier. At the end of 2012, this figure also decreased - by 33%. Earlier in Adobe, one of the BSA member companies, this trend was associated, first of all, with an increase in the threshold for criminal liability for the use of pirated software in December 2011, as well as with the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the change of personnel of internal bodies.

The BSA notes that in 2013, companies most often violated the copyright for software in industries such as construction, architecture and design, sales and distribution.

"" Unfortunately, the level of use of pirated software in areas such as construction, design and architecture is one of the highest. For illegal users, the consequences for using unlicensed software in these areas are also the most serious, due to the high cost of these products. We know examples of ultra-high fines leading to business closure, conditional and even real terms, and critical errors in the calculations of structures, "say the Russian office of Autodesk

.

The most active law enforcement activities of the association were carried out in such cities as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, and in a number of other regions.

Among the violators, from whom the copyright holders of the software sued the largest compensation, in 2013 were PI Arkhangelskgrazhdanproekt from Arkhangelsk (more than 8.7 million rubles), AstrakhanGiprozem from Astrakhan (5.8 million rubles), Orbit from Krasnodar (5.3 million rubles), NizhegorodProektCenter from Nizhny Novgorod (2.3 million rubles).

Throughout the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) in 2013, the total expenses of companies for the settlement of relations with copyright holders in connection with the illegal use of software amounted to almost $15 million, according to the BSA.

2011

Pirate Software Level - 63%

The rate of pirate use ON Russia in 2011 was 63 percent, which is 2 percentage points lower than in 2010. The commercial cost of unlicensed, software installed on personal computers in Russia in 2011, amounted to about 3, 227 billion. dollars USA These are data from the 2011 Global Software Piracy Study conducted worldwide by the Software Manufacturers Association (). BSA

"In recent years, we have seen a steady decline in the level of piracy in Russia. This indicates the success of the measures taken. Obviously, awareness of business, as well as ordinary users, is also growing about the risks to which they expose themselves in case of use, including storage on personal computers, unlicensed software. The Russian authorities are making increasing efforts to improve legislation and are developing law enforcement practices in partnership with non-profit organizations and copyright holders. In particular, in 2011, for the first time in Russia, the practice of "civil inspections" was applied, which is not inferior in efficiency to traditional methods of combating computer piracy, "said Gromova Ekaterina, Chairman of the Russian BSA Committee

.

The results of the survey also showed that 31% of PC users worldwide use unlicensed software products always, almost always or sometimes, while 26% use illegal software only in rare cases. In Russia, the ratio of licensed software users to those who use pirated products constantly or very often is one to one - 22% each.

The average age of a Russian pirate ranges from 18 to 24 years (28%). It is noteworthy that 51% of Russian pirates are women, while the ratio in the world is 60% and 40% in favor of men.

The survey found that 19% of Russian PC users avoid using unlicensed software due to the risk of being caught, while 23% realize the illegality of piracy and therefore purchase legal products.

"Computer piracy continues to negatively impact the global economy, IT innovation and job creation," said BSA President and CEO Robert Holliman. "Governments of all states should take active steps to modernize copyright law and strengthen measures to prevent piracy so that violators can feel the full weight of the consequences of their illegal activities."

The BSA recommends the following set of measures to reduce the level of computer piracy:

• Upgrading software and other copyrighted content to keep up with innovative solutions such as cloud computing and increasingly networked mobile devices
• Development of law enforcement practices through the creation of specialized law enforcement units specializing in the suppression of violations of intellectual property rights; training of law enforcement and judicial officials, development and improvement of international law enforcement cooperation, as well as implementation of obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
• Use only fully licensed software, manage the company's software assets in accordance with the Software Asset Management (SAM) methodology. Encourage the use of legal software by state-owned enterprises as well as all contractors and suppliers.
• Increase educational initiatives and increase awareness of piracy and intellectual property rights with law enforcement and market players

Russia's place on the world map of piracy

• The commercial value of unlicensed software in the world increased from 58.8 billion dollars USA in 2010 to 63.4 billion US dollars in 2011. This new record was set by the increased supply of PCs to emerging economies.
• Among the countries of the BRIC group, the highest level of computer piracy was recorded in China - 77%, followed by Russia and India with an indicator of 63% each, while in Brazil it is 53%.
• With regard to the cost of legal software in countries with developing and developed economies, it has remained stable for many years. For example, China spends about a quarter of the amount that Russia spends on legal software and only about 7% of the funds spent by the United States.
• Users who admitted to often using unlicensed software are mostly young men, the study found. It is they who most often install unlicensed programs of all types on their PCs.
• Public opinion still supports intellectual property: 7 out of 10 PC users support the initiative to financially reward innovators in order to promote technological progress.

This is the ninth global study of the level of computer piracy conducted by BSA in partnership with research company IDC in 116 countries around the world. The study is also supplemented by a survey of 15,000 PC users from 33 countries (including Russia) conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.

23% of retail outlets sell pirated software

Microsoft has summed up the next wave of the computer retail piracy monitoring program in the regions of Russia. In August-September 2011, about 23% of 3016 trusted outlets in 80 cities of Russia offered unlicensed software to their customers in one form or another.

Despite the traditional seasonal increase in the share of pirated offers - the autumn monitoring wave showed 23% versus 17% in the spring - there is a tendency to reduce piracy. Compared to the results of the autumn wave of last year's program, when the level of piracy in the channel was 27%, the situation with piracy at points of sale has significantly improved in all regions of Russia, the report said.

ON Ulan-Ude, Lipetsk, Bratsk Novorossiysk, Armavir turned out to be the cities with the highest level of piracy according to the proposals for installing a pirate in the store (18-33% of points). Pskov (53%), (Krasnoyarsk 44%), Surgut (43%) distinguished themselves by a high total rate of piracy due to recommendations for the purchase of pirated products made by sellers. The lowest level of piracy was noted in Saratov, Novokuznetsk, Syktyvkar.

33% of retail outlets Moscow continue to recommend pirated software in one form or another, and 12% of stores offer to install unlicensed software right on the spot. Given the volume of PC sales in, To Moscow these data show significant volumes of shipments of pirated copies of software products and, accordingly, the high risks associated with the use of unlicensed software arising from many PC buyers, the researchers conclude.

In August-September 2011, the pre-installation of pirated software in stores was allowed in 7% of retail outlets in Russia. Compared to the same period last year, this figure decreased by 6 percentage points.

All offers of pirated OS by regions of Russia

including: in-store installation, recommendations for pirate installer services and recommendations for self-purchase (download) and installation of pirated product

Source: Microsoft Russia, November 2011 

Offers for installing pirated OS in the store by region of Russia

Source: Microsoft Russia, November 2011 

According to the total number of proposals and recommendations for the use of unlicensed software among million-plus cities, Moscow (33%) and Krasnoyarsk (44%) differ in the highest levels of piracy. The most noticeable dynamics of the fall in the level of piracy was noted in the Far Eastern Federal District - from 28% to 15%, and the Central Federal District (excluding Moscow) - from 22% to 13%.

From January 2009 to December 2010, law enforcement agencies in Russia initiated more than 2.3 thousand inspections among distributors of unlicensed software. According to the results of Microsoft's computer retail monitoring program, information about about Microsoft violators was transferred to the company's legal department for the year, by June 2011.

By installing unlicensed programs on users' PCs, distribution pirates violate the copyrights of software manufacturers and also put their customers at risk, Microsoft recalls. In 96% of cases, a counterfeit software product has changed code, which limits the consumer from using the capabilities of licensed software, about 26% of pirated distributions contain Trojan viruses, and a quarter of unlicensed products are not updated.

Law enforcement practice in Russia

2019

22 ministries and federal services caught using pirated software

Russian government agencies also use pirated programs from the Microsoft Office package to prepare documents along with licensed software. As part of his research, this conclusion was reached by the director of the ANO "Information Culture" and the initiator of a non-state project to increase public awareness in the field of spending public funds "Goszatrata" Ivan Begtin^[15].

He studied specific metadata (about them - below) 22.3 thousand official documents in the.doc format, posted at different times on the websites of 23 government agencies. "The scale of published documents tagged with pirated MS Office is currently 6.64%, which is relatively small, but significant enough to be an unintentional accident," Begtin notes in the study.

The leaders in the number of documents with pirated metadata were Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Ministry of Sports,,,,. Rosmorrechflot" Rosavtodor Roshydromet The authority on whose website not a single such document was found is the Government with its Russia government.ru website," the study said.

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications takes only third place in terms of the licensing purity of its documents, passing Rosstat between itself and the Government.

2017

Microsoft was not allowed to audit the software at the main trolleybus plant in Russia

The Irish legal entity of Microsoft could not prove its right to audit the InformSystem in the Saratov company Trollza, the largest Russian manufacturer of trolleybus equipment. From the point of view of the software giant, he had such a right provided for by a certain agreement between the parties, but the arbitration court of the Saratov region did not satisfy^[16] claim^[17].

Note that it is on behalf of the Irish office of Microsoft that this company conducts commercial operations in Russia. At the same time, at the beginning of 2017, it became known that the company had registered with the Federal Tax Service of Russia to pay VAT on the sale of electronic services, but the controversial agreement with Trollza refers to a much earlier period of the vendor's activity.

As follows from the database of court decisions, Microsoft filed a lawsuit on November 28, 2016. The proceedings were repeatedly postponed and postponed. In June 2017, the company filed a petition for the proceedings in a closed court hearing, but the decision on this issue was not publicly available, and the open nature of the final documents makes it possible to judge that the court did not satisfy this petition.

Some details of the case

The court documents say that the contract, which became the subject of disagreement between Microsoft and Trolls, was concluded on November 29, 2013. It provided for the provision of a license for a number of programs owned by a Western vendor. In accordance with one of the clauses of the agreement, Trolls must "keep records of products that are used or distributed," and the Microsoft "has the right to verify compliance with the terms of the product license at its own expense."

The agreement stipulated that as assistance, Trolls should immediately provide the independent auditor with all reasonably requested information, as well as access to the systems on which the products are used, and confirmation of licenses for them.

The documents state that the western vendor notified the Russian company of its intention to conduct an audit in early January 2016, and then three times (March 10, 2016, April 20, 2016 and July 20, 2016) filed letters of claim in an attempt to resolve the dispute in a pre-trial manner. All these appeals were left unanswered.

Petersburger received 2.5 years probation for downloading two pirated programs

A resident of St. Petersburg Dmitry Bizyaev received a 2.5-year suspended sentence for downloading two programs from the Internet, the United Press Service (OPS) of city courts reported in October 2017 with reference to the Moscow District Court of the city.

The court found the man guilty of committing two episodes of crimes under the article "Violation of copyright and related rights on an especially large scale," RIA Novosti reported. According to investigators, Bizyaev downloaded about 1.4 million rubles from an unidentified website of the program and installed them on a portable medium of electronic information^[18].

Volzhanin received 2 years probation for downloading pirated software

By his actions, the programmer caused damage to the copyright holder in the amount of more than 1 million rubles. The Volga City Court sentenced^[19] a sentence against a local resident accused of copyright infringement and causing damage on an especially large scale^[20].

According to the court, the convict posted an Internet ad offering services for installing various computer programs. According to the announcement, an employee of one of the Volga companies turned to him. Fulfilling the order, the programmer downloaded the required software on the Internet and saved it on two USB drives.

As the court points out, the hacker did not conclude an agreement with the copyright holder to use the program, but arbitrarily installed it on the customer's computer and laptop. By his actions, the programmer caused damage to the copyright holder on an especially large scale in the amount of more than 1 million rubles.

Volzhanin was convicted under paragraph "in" Part 3 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "illegal use of copyright objects, as well as the acquisition, storage of counterfeit copies of works for sales purposes, committed on an especially large scale" and sentenced to 2 years in prison conditionally with a probationary period of 1.5 years.

The courts of the Russian Federation clarified how Microsoft cannot look for pirated software

According to Russian courts, the discrepancy between the number of employees in companies and the number of purchased copies of licensed software is not a sign of piracy. In this regard, Microsoft was denied the right to check PCs used in domestic enterprises for pirated versions of its products.

According to Izvestia, in 2016 Microsoft filed applications with Russian courts about "securing property interests." In particular, the company asked to send bailiffs to check computers in a number of Russian organizations, where, in its opinion, pirated software was used. Microsoft had no direct evidence of violations, but the tech giant hoped to find them during the inspection.

According to the company's experts, the number of copies of programs purchased by organizations does not meet their real needs. Since the number of licensed programs is less than the employees in need of them, it means that part of the software used is pirated, Microsoft experts concluded.

Russian courts did not agree with the company's findings. First, the Voronezh Arbitration Court, and then the Nineteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal did not allow Microsoft specialists to check computers in one of the domestic firms. This month, a similar decision was made by the Intellectual Rights Court. Microsoft's request was also refused by the Arbitration Court of the Kemerovo Region and the Seventh Arbitration Court of Appeal.

The Russian Federation may abolish criminal punishment for the use of pirated software

The Ombudsman for Intellectual Rights Anatoly Semenov proposed in March to abolish criminal penalties for installing and using counterfeit software. He prepared such an initiative for the report of the Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs Boris Titov, which will be sent to the President of the Russian Federation at the end of April, Izvestia reports. The ^[21].

Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Violation of copyright and related rights") is often used by lawyers in order to obtain financial benefits, Semenov says. According to him, in the regions there are frequent cases when unlicensed software is installed on computers. Former employees or allegedly official representatives of copyright holders, who in fact have nothing to do with them, inform law enforcement agencies about this. As a result, they check and seize the equipment. The examination confirms the presence of pirated software, the case is sent to court and won, Semenov explained.

At the same time, the general director of the company or the person acting as him is in the dock. According to the Ombudsman, if Art. 146 of the Criminal Code apply correctly, then the investigation should establish the one who installed the pirated software, and bring charges against him.

In this regard, Semenov proposes to add an explanation to Art. 146 of the Criminal Code. He explained that one cannot be sentenced to criminal liability for an act that has no signs of public danger. For Art. 146, this characteristic is the sales target. If it is not, then there is no corpus delicti and, accordingly, no responsibility. In addition, there can be no liability if the person who placed the pirated software on the computer is unknown.

According to some reports, under Art. 146 of the Criminal Code in 2013, 232 people were convicted in Russia, in 2014 - 237, and in 2015 - already 269 people.

The government bans "mirrors" of pirated sites in Russia

The Government Commission of the Russian Federation approved a bill that will limit access to the mirrors of sites containing illegally distributed content. In addition, the bill will oblige search engines operators to remove from search results those resources that were blocked for piracy on an ongoing basis, as well as "mirrors" of such resources. A message about this appeared on the website of the Russian government^[22].

The bill was prepared by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and published on the regulation.gov.ru portal in May 2016. The document provides for amendments to the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" and the Civil Code.

The essence of the bill

The bill introduces such a concept as "derived site on the Internet" - what is called a mirror of the site in the language of network users. Blocking mirrors that provide access to illegal audio and video materials will be possible through the appeal of copyright holders to the Moscow City Court.

The bill was prepared by the Ministry of Communications after studying the practice of constantly blocking pirated resources. During the analysis, the ministry concluded that it is difficult to respond in a timely manner to the appearance of mirrors of prohibited sites, since mirrors are created automatically. In addition, search engines continue to index "forever" blocked sites and their mirrors, because the law does not oblige search engine operators to remove these sites from search results. As a result, through the unlocked mirror shown in the search, the user easily gains access to pirated content. The emergence of an appropriate legislative order should correct the situation.

Russian received a term and a million fine for "piracy"

A resident of Magadan, who distributed software of large developers in violation of copyright, will have to pay a fine of 1.147 million rubles. In addition, the court sentenced him to two years and three months of suspended imprisonment, followed by a probationary period of two years. This was reported with reference to the press service of the Russian MIA Administration for the Magadan Region by the local news agency MagadanMedia^[23]

The investigation established that the 24-year-old attacker downloaded software on the Internet, which was prohibited by copyright holders from free distribution. He posted the downloaded products on the local network, where each user could copy them. Since the software had protective mechanisms, the offender posted programs with him on the network to bypass this protection. The actions of the attacker violate paragraph "B" of Part 3 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Copyright infringement committed on an especially large scale," the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports.

2015: Expanded version of the law on piracy

On May 1, 2015, an expanded version of the law on piracy began to operate in Russia. Now the law allows copyright holders of all types of content, except for photos, to contact the Moscow City Court with a request to block resources where pirated copies of their products are located. The lawsuit must be filed within 2 days of posting the content.

Having received a complaint from the copyright holder, the Moscow City Court is considering the case and requires the owners of the pirate resource to remove the controversial content. Roskomnadzor takes three days to remove it. If the requirement is not met, the resource enters the Register of Prohibited Sites. If the same copyright holder wins two lawsuits against the same site, then access to it is blocked on an ongoing basis.

As part of this law, resources such as the torrent trackers Rutracker.org, Rutor and Noname-club, the music site of the pleer.com and the online libraries Filibusta and Librusek were "forever" blocked.

2014: Azcherrybvod forced to pay 1.4 million rubles for pirated software

The state budgetary institution "Azov-Black Sea Basin Administration for Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources" (under the jurisdiction of the Federal Agency for Fishery) lost a case in three instances in which Microsoft, 1C and Adobe demanded that the institution pay them compensation for the use of unlicensed software. This follows from court documents released in January 2014.

According to court decisions, the state structure in total must pay the copyright holders about 1.2 million rubles. for the use of unlicensed products, copies of which the UEBiPK of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnodar Territory found on the organization's computers following an audit. Among them - "1C: Enterprise" and software "1C" for accounting, OS Windows 7 and MS Office, Adobe Photoshop CS5.

More on the case here.

2013

The court for the first time stops the activities of individual entrepreneurs due to piracy

On February 18, 2013, for the first time in Russian practice, the court ruled to terminate the activities of an individual entrepreneur involved in the distribution of counterfeit software, the non-profit partnership of software suppliers (NP SPP) reported. For more information about the case, see Andrey Chebotarev.

Microsoft punished a Russian plant for piracy

At the end of October 2013, the Court of Appeal satisfied Microsoft's claims on a lawsuit against Construction and Experimental Engineering from Rostov-on-Don (part of SEM Ekodom, a plant for the production of structures for construction), in which the corporation demanded to pay it more than 600 thousand rubles. for copyright infringement, for using unlicensed copies of its products

Representatives of the defendant in Microsoft's appeal proceedings said that at the time of the hearing in the case, the system blocks were disassembled, and it was impossible to submit them for additional research. In this regard, citing the fact that the defendant did not provide evidence that the certificates of authenticity of software products on the cases were pasted, the court ruled in favor of Microsoft. More on the case here.

In the vast majority of cases, claims by software developers for compensation for copyright infringement are satisfied in the first instance. As of the fall of 2013, the file of the arbitration court totaled more than 500 cases of this kind with the participation of Microsoft.

Autodesk and Microsoft receive compensation of 600 thousand rubles from FederalStroyGroup

Autodesk tries through the court to obtain seizure of property and funds FederalStroyGroup in the amount of 6.5 million rubles, which the company, in a joint Microsoft lawsuit, demands to pay for violation of its copyright.

In December 2013, the court approved a settlement agreement according to which FederalStroyGroup was to pay Autodesk and Microsoft a one-time compensation for copyright infringement in the total amount of 600,000 rubles. For details of the case, see the article: FederalStroyGroup.

Law enforcement practice abroad

Azerbaijan

For the first time in Azerbaijani judicial practice, a decision was made to ban the use by the seller of computer equipment ABC Telecom of unlicensed software and a demand was put forward to compensate Microsoft for the damage caused by this distribution, writes in September 2017 the publication "APA-Economics"^[24].

The company's appeal to the Baku Court of Appeal to cancel the decision of the court of first instance and the petition for the appointment of a new examination was also rejected. The decision of the Court of Appeal can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan.

Belarus

The use of unlicensed software products on personal and work computers is a serious administrative offense, the responsibility for which is provided for in Article 9.21 of the Administrative Code. It entails the imposition of a fine and confiscation in favor of the state of computer equipment with unlicensed software.

In special cases, for example, when unlicensed software contributes to income on a large scale (more than 500 basic values), a legal entity is prosecuted under Part 2 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code. Criminal liability for officials is provided for a repeated offense in software the form of installing and using illegal software, which may also entail restriction of liberty for up to five years or imprisonment for the same period in accordance with Part 3 of Article 201 of the Criminal Code.

Georgia

In 2010, Georgia topped the list of 110 countries with the largest distribution of pirated software - then 95% of citizens with a computer used hacked programs. Developers avoid voicing their losses, but from year to year they claim that they are high. Since then, the situation has improved markedly, but still unsatisfactory. According to the latest data from the Business Software Alliance in Georgia, 84% of counterfeit software is 11% less than in 2009. Although the indicator is still high, analysts note positive dynamics. Software companies lost $24 million in 2015. This is more than half as much as six years ago - in 2009, the total commercial value of unlicensed software purchased in the country was $54 million^[25].

In

January 2015, the Georgian government signed an agreement with Microsoft. Georgia became the first country in the post-Soviet space, the state apparatus of which is fully equipped with licensed software. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Education and Science issued a memorandum with the company. According to the document, Wi-Fi networks will appear in schools, and the latest operating systems and office programs will be installed on computers in classrooms. According to Gogiladze, this is how the Georgian authorities set an example for the business sector, which, in turn, understands the message and also begins to rebuild. Medium and small businesses are increasingly abandoning pirated software in favor of legal ones. Since 2015, about 230 Georgian companies have acquired licensed computer programs.

According to a 2016 court decision, seven Georgian companies must pay a fine of 100,000 dollars USA for using unlicensed software. Additionally, they will pay for the legalization of software. Three more companies are awaiting a court ruling.

A Georgian court sentenced seven private companies to pay Microsoft a fine totaling $100,000 for illegal use of the software. A representative of the Business Legal Bureau, which protects the rights of an international corporation in a Georgian court, Microsoft legal adviser Kakha Sharabidze says that the existing legislation in the country provides a number of advantages for protecting the copyright of software manufacturers. "Under this law, copyright owners can sue for violating the law to initiate administrative, criminal and civil cases. This is important because intellectual property protection is one of the main conditions of Georgia's aspiration to the European Union, "Sharabidze said.

Earlier, Microsoft sued ten companies. Decisions on three of them have not yet been made. Director of the Tbilisi office of the company Nikoloz Doboridzhginidze noted that, in addition to the fine, companies will have to legalize the software by paying an additional amount. Her size was not disclosed. At the same time, he refused to name the companies with which Microsoft is suing. As the company's lawyer explained to Digital.Report, the payment in excess of the fine is compensation for copyright infringement on the software: "They are not obliged to buy Microsoft products, so we cannot force them. However, in most cases, companies usually decide to install legal programs, so in addition to compensation for losses, they purchased our licensed products, paying the corresponding price^[26].

According to the latest BSA|The Software Alliance study, in 2015, software 84% in Georgia were installed illegally, as a result of which software companies suffered a loss of $24 million.

See also

• Stop Online Piracy Act
• Software Licensing
• Software Asset Management (SAM)
• Microsoft Software Assurance
• Microsoft Open Source Software Policy
• Licensing Microsoft Products
• Copyright on the Internet
• Censorship (control) on the Internet. Experience of Russia
• Censorship (control and anonymity) on the Internet. World experience
• Censorship (control) on the Internet. China experience
• Intellectual property (patents)
• Computer law
• All-Russian Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Pirated Software in Russia and the World (Unlicensed Software)

Notes