Russia is Considering Legalizing Software Piracy — Is It a Response to the West's Sanctions?

Software piracy may soon be legalized in Russia.

Russian officials are starting to consider other ways to keep Russia's government and businesses running despite the sanctions placed against them. One of the avenues being considered is the legalization of certain forms of software piracy, per Ars Technica.

Details on the seizure

A Gizmodo article mentioned that the legalization of software piracy would act as a potential workaround for products denied to Russia as part of Ukraine-related Western sanctions. These products include those from companies that have supported the sanctions against Russia, or where there is no available software alternative.

This series of events has led to believe reporters from one of Russia's business newspapers, Kommersant, that Russia could soon authorize the use of any intellectual property without the patent holder's consent.

Russian law already allows this authorization to happen should the Russian government feel that it is in an emergency related to Russia's defense and security, per Article 1360 Section 7 of Russia's Civil Code.

The Kommersant article, which was found and translated by Kyle Mitchell, mentioned that the plan would create "a compulsory licensing mechanism for software, databases, and technology for integrated microcircuits."

Ars Technica's report mentioned that this intellectual property seizure could apply to all except for products from Chinese companies, which are mulling over the possibility of taking advantage of the situation in Russia, per the Wall Street Journal.

Whether these Chinese companies are going to take the advantage remains to be seen. However, the possibility of them actually taking it is unlikely, according to the research report from analysts at Gavekal Dragonomics.

"Chinese companies have much more to lose than to gain by violating sanctions," the report said. "For most Chinese companies, Russia is just too small a market for the business to be worth the risk of getting cut off from developed markets or being sanctioned itself."

It's nothing new

Despite Russia's strictness when it comes to intellectual property laws and software piracy, the country is no stranger to illicit activities involving piracy.

According to Igor Slabykh for the Institute of Modern Russia, the country previously used Winnie the Pooh for its cartoon of the same name in 1969. Slabykh said that the country did so without gaining the permission of its copyright holder even though the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic's civil code prohibits such an act.

Another incident of intellectual property theft is also a recent one: The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) reported that APT29 (also known as "the Dukes" or "Cozy Bear") was caught attempting to steal the intellectual properties of various organizations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development in the West.

APT29 is a cyberespionage group that is almost certainly part of the Russian intelligence services, according to the NCSC.

Slabykh also said in his report that intellectual property theft is so widespread in Russia that even judicial officers are questioning the need to pay more for a legitimate product when its counterfeit analog was cheaper.

Russians also prefer pirated content to legal ones despite years of fighting against intellectual property theft, ESET found in its 2019 survey.

TorrentFreak cited ESET's report in their article discussing it.